broken leg - pics and video - what's her chances?

[milkmaid]

5wt calf, don't think it's been broken more than 48 hours, probably much less. Broken above the hock, significant amount of swelling but the ends move easily. I consulted (over the phone) with two vets prior to setting it, one vet said go for it, the other said shoot her. What do y'all think?

Moving out in the field:


In the trailer:

Just shot her up with drugs, doesn't look comfortable there but I don't want to stress her/move her yet:

Set - as stable as I can make it. Taped, padded, fingers crossed at this point.

For the vets - I don't know a lot about bandaging, does that need air or will it be okay for a week and a half? figured I'd check on it and rebandage in about 10 days when I'm back up at the ranch, and that'd be a good opportunity to evaluate whether or not it's healing.

 

[milkmaid]

If that video above doesn't work, this one should...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeasBIowSrc[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeasBIowSrc

 

[larryshoat]

I say go for it too. I know getting a splint good enough can be a problem, as far as air I'm afraid that can be a problem too. I guess if the splint don't break and it don't rot off, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Nice calf. Good luck and keep us posted.

Larry

 

[cow pollinater]

Cattle are amazing animals. It wouldn't surprise me at all if she heals up to a useable point.
My concern is that after you factor in your time, weight loss, and the expensive feed that you're going to have to pump into her to get her up and going that it may not be worth saving her monetarily... But good luck.

 

[angus9259]

Cattle are amazing animals. It wouldn't surprise me at all if she heals up to a useable point.
My concern is that after you factor in your time, weight loss, and the expensive feed that you're going to have to pump into her to get her up and going that it may not be worth saving her monetarily... But good luck.

Agreed. If it's a labor of love, great. If it's a labor of ROI - tough to pencil.

 

[milkmaid]

Decided the previous splint wouldn't work after she'd gotten up and moved around, tried another splint job:

And a phone call this morning to find out her status found that it's not going to work either. She's going to be put down... I'm not up at the ranch at the moment and I feel a little badly about that, it kind of feels like my responsibility to shoot her if I can't fix the leg.

Vets on here... what could have been done differently?

 

[cfpinz]

That's a shame, good on you for your effort.

FWIW, I liked the looks of the first splint the best. We've had some luck with smaller calves when they've broken their legs, most of the time we just confine them in a small area where they don't move around much and just leave them be. But once they've got the size of the one you've been dealing with it's going to be hard to manage.

We've never butchered one that small, wonder what it would have amounted to if the drugs were not introduced?

 

[TCTara]

The best walking splints are a U shape, with very strong metal. They tend to only work under 500 lbs due to inability to have something strong enough and yet light enough to use. It can be reinforced with PCV, but with this animal, it would be difficult to find it big enough to accomodate, even when cut in 1/2 due to how high the fracture is and how muscular the calf is. Fibreglass splints/casts can also be used. Frankly, from what I saw in the vid, there was a chance she would form a callus enough to be able to somewhat heal, but would be painful and would likely go down at some point, lose weight and suffer. That fracture was just a little too high to be successfully splinted. Having said that, I've seen a shoulder fracture heal on a mature simmental cow, so there literally can be individual variation.

Sometimes it's best just to cut your losses, but I can understand wanting to try!

 

[angus9259]

That stinks. Can she keep going till the drugs are gone so you can have her butchered?

 

[milkmaid]

I considered it, angus, but I don't think it'd be humane in her case - she tries to use the leg when she walks and it moves the entire spectrum of ends being in contact to ends no longer touching. When it's not touching the ground, the lower leg flops around in all directions; not just side to side but back and forth as well. It just doesn't seem right to keep her in pain like that. If she'd pack the leg I'd consider it, but the way she uses it...

I really wonder what she did to break it that badly.

 

[milkmaid]

The best walking splints are a U shape, with very strong metal.

Do you have a picture? I've only seen one calf with a broken leg splinted before - vet used a contraption like what I have in the second attempt - but it was a calf under 200lbs. I haven't seen any other types of splints.

 

[jilleroo]

We have successfully used a splint with the "basket handles" on a heifer with a high break like that but she was smaller and lighter.
It healed in two weeks and before that you could lift the leg to point skywards when she was standing up. However I feel your heifer was just too big and heavy for it to be a success.

We've done one that size for a lower leg break, threw her in the paddock, had a rodeo show whacking a big thick heap of plaster of paris on her (covered with bright orange adhesive vinyl to try and waterproof it a little!) and let her go, she was mad as about the whole deal. It wasnt until four months later we saw her again - the leg was healed, she had grown hugely, the plaster was mostly still on but, because the leg was really swollen when we plastered it, hadnt rubbed it much at all. We had a one heck of a time cutting it off her!

 

[TCTara]

The best walking splints are a U shape, with very strong metal.

Do you have a picture? I've only seen one calf with a broken leg splinted before - vet used a contraption like what I have in the second attempt - but it was a calf under 200lbs. I haven't seen any other types of splints.

It's a Thomas splint, modified for cattle, Ring around the top, drilled holes in hoof to wire to the bottom of the U, taped to sides. Here's an attempt at directing you to a pic, one from human use.

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=...a=X&ei=S-2kTNrQCMO78gbv2Mn6AQ&ved=0CBoQ9QEwAQ