Bad Toe On cow

[googly_moogly]

Hello,
I have a very nice cow that sometime in her life cut the heck out of one of her toes and when ever we get any rain and mud, not often, she gets a little lame. She is one of my best cows so I don't want to just send her to the kill floor. Has anyone ever heard of surgically removing the hurt toe. Someone told me about a simular situation where the vet removed the toe and after a short while her cow got around just fine. Any imput would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Goolgy Moogly

 

[dj]

doesn't sound cost effective to me

 

[randiliana]

We had a friend do that with a cow that had either gotten a really bad case of footrot, or a bad abcess (can't remember which) I believe the cow was fine afterward, and not lame, but I am not 100% sure. Talk to your vet, and see what he/she has to say.

 

[milkmaid]

I've heard of it but never seen a cow with the surgery. I believe you can have it done one of two ways; either completely amputating the claw including the bone (in a horse it's called the coffin bone; think it's the same in a cow), or just removing the outside shell of the hoof and leaving the bone. Don't remember what you do in the meantime while you're waiting for the claw to grow back.

 

[googly_moogly]

Thanks all of ya'll for the great responces.

G.M.