Broken Hoof

[ksl1]

We have a 5 yr old cow that has what appears to be a broken hoof. One side of her hoof looks broke. She has been limping on and off. We have given her a couple rounds of LA200 and she would seem to get better, then start limping again. Is there anything else we can do?

 

[fourstates]

It really hurts, so she needs some banamine for pain. Put her in a small pen, keep her foot clean and dry. A vet or farrier might be able to trim it so it grows out right. It will take time.

 

[randiliana]

Sounds like she might have foundered. Have a vet or farrier trim it to even it out. Give 5 cc dex twice per day for 5 days and 45 cc la 200. If it is infected that will take care of the infection and the dex will relieve the pain and swelling if there is any.

The only thing dex will do for the pain, is reduce the swelling. And, it could very well cause your cow to abort if she is pregnant. Unless there is an infection treating with LA 200 will do nothing more than possibly make you feel good. If you could post a picture that would be a great help.

I doubt she is foundered if the hoof looks broken. Is it cracked or is there actually a chunk broken off? Regardless, there isn't a lot you can do for either problem. If it is broken it needs to grow out and that will take a while. If it is cracked, she may be plagued with problems on and off for years.

 

[Cowdirt]

Many things can cause broken or cracked hooves. From my personal experience, if you observe your herd closely at any given time you're likely to find cracked hooves in your herd. Some limp from it some don't. I keep good minerals out with emphasis on zinc and iodine. This seems to help. After that unless the animal is really bad I practice benign neglect. JMO

 

[Double R Ranch]

About two weeks ago I went to check on the herd and there was a lone cow quite aways from the rest of the herd laying down when she should have been grazing. Went out and checked and she was on three legs. Piece of her hoof was folded up. Have noticed a fair amount of cracks this time of year every year so wasn't to surprised. Haveing a problem with squirels making holes in the pastures.
Brought her up and put her in the corral. Waited a few days providing feed infront of her and she started to heal on her own. By allowing her to stay still and still eat it gave it a chance to heal and seal over. Oh and the piece broke off before I could clip it off which was the plan.
I think of it as your own fingernails. (plus I went to school for horse shoing so I have a pretty good understanding of the hoof) When you split your nail (usually when you miss with a hammer ) it hurts but if you can give it a bit of time it hurts less and heals over. In this case there was no blood.
On cracks, we use a stop tech. that we use on horses. Use a file and at the top of the crack (or bottom) you file into the hoof. Mind you you don't want to go very deep. This usually prevents the crack from going any further. Be sure you know what you are doing. YOU CAN DRAW BLOOD AND CAUSE INFECTION IF YOU GO TO DEEP!
Double R

 

[Tep]

We had one this summer, brought her and her calf home to a small pen and kept them there until she quit limping. I poured iodine on her hoof 2x's a day (she is pretty tame) for 3 days and gave her an antibiotic. Now she's fine. Goodluck!

 

[ksl1]

Thanks for all the information. She eventually healed up on her own.