Broken leg?

[regolith]

Well, we just had an actual earthquake. 1:20 am 20 Feb, just thought the rest of the world would like to know that, the door frames shook. Cat stopped licking her legs and looked up.

To get on with the post:

Anyone ever had a cow with a broken leg limp slightly for a week or two then come right?

Leg was swollen from fetlock to hock, swelled up the day after I noticed her limping & I'd already checked her foot and found nothing though noticed a bit of warmth and swelling in the ankle. That was 2 Feb and she's been walking good and back with the herd for about a week now, and there's a lump on her lower leg now that the swelling's come down.

 

[3waycross]

Well, we just had an actual earthquake. 1:20 am 20 Feb, just thought the rest of the world would like to know that, the door frames shook. Cat stopped licking her legs and looked up.

To get on with the post:

Anyone ever had a cow with a broken leg limp slightly for a week or two then come right?

Leg was swollen from fetlock to hock, swelled up the day after I noticed her limping & I'd already checked her foot and found nothing though noticed a bit of warmth and swelling in the ankle. That was 2 Feb and she's been walking good and back with the herd for about a week now, and there's a lump on her lower leg now that the swelling's come down.

Sure it's a break? Could it be a puncture or a snakebite?

 

[alisonb]

I doubt it was a break, perhaps a sprain or injury?

 

[regolith]

No snakes here. I thought she must have kicked something - but I don't know what. That would do that to her? Or maybe another cow kicked her?
I did have her on penicillin because I saw a gash below her fetlock... very slight, but I've had two similar this year get infected and not start to get better till treated. Penicillin had no effect on either her gait or the swelling.

 

[Loch Valley Fold]

We had a dairy that we think broke her toe she went real lame this happened just as she was dried out so she had 8-12 weeks break her foot healed but not to where she could keep up with the herd being only her 2nd calf I talked my parents in letting me take her into our beef herd now she raises a great calf but you still can't push her along too fast otherwise she starts limping again. We think she put her foot into a rabbit hole or something like that

 

[regolith]

sprain? Would a sprain cause a lump on her leg?

You see what they have to walk over every day:

Haven't seen any rabbit holes here but we sure have ruts in the tracks.
I culled one of my Jerseys recently who was having her best production year yet for me, and had been lame since she arrived back off lease. I was getting tempted to let her have a rest till next calving because I knew she was holding to AI... even severe arthritis doesn't hold up a nurse cow much, she can still raise good calves.

 

[Limomike]

I have had a cow broke her leg from a coyote hole in the pasture... thought about selling her at the time, but she had a two week old calf on her.. so I didnt. good thing I kept her.. because that was 4 years ago..and shes still going strong.. even with the limp! Raises calves that gain 3lbs a day.....

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

Could have been foot rot...

Stay up on the antibiotic so that the infection is killed and doesn't settle in a joint.

 

[regolith]

The lump is still noticeably hot if touched.

And now I've got another cow to keep an eye on... one of the first cows into the shed last night managed to operate the switch for the backing gate. By the time I got to the controls it had swept the whole length of the yard - most of the cows were able to get out of the way alright but the ones caught in the corners were getting a bit desperate. One must have got her foot stood on because she came in for milking with it scraped and bleeding.
Surely there ought to be an *emergency cut-out* to trip the gate if there's something stopping it moving forward?? I can't even imagine the result if that had happened with the entrance closed.

 

[hillrancher]

Yes, that very well could be a broken leg. If the bone doesn't surface they will heal ok. Cows have a very good way of healing without help. I had a young cow breake her leg while branding turned her out still have her she is 12 years old. Had a steer break his leg at foot was barley connected, cut some Pvc pipe and made a splint he got where he could walk he is in freezer now.
From vet many years ago let them alone if the hide is not pierced. Kill them if it is.

 

[3waycross]

It almost looks like a bowed tendon.

 

[milkmaid]

I've seen several like that come through the milking parlor... usually they kicked something (sometimes I watched them do it in the parlor) or caught their leg on/through something. Do they have hay feeders she might have put a leg through?

Considering that I broke my foot recently and only just put my crutches away after using them for 7 weeks... I doubt she'd walk on it well after only 2 weeks. I know cows are tough and I've seen complete breaks (can feel entire surfaces of both bones) where the cow would attempt to walk on the leg- but they're not going to walk smoothly anytime soon. I'd put my money on it being a soft tissue injury, rather than a broken bone.

 

[regolith]

No hay feeders, but plenty rails around the cowshed and though I'm careful with the backing gate I can't see it from the pit. Whatever happened, I didn't see it, just saw her lame.
Thanks MM. It's not quite like anything I've seen before - it's the way the whole lower leg was swollen twice the size of the other that made me think something broken.
Wishing you a complete recovery on that foot... you'll need it.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm with 3way. That does look like it could be a tendon that blew out

 

[regolith]

http://www.athletic-animals.com/bowed.htm

"When people say a horse is "bowed", or that it has a "bowed tendon", they are generally referring to tearing of the superficial digital flexor tendon in the middle of the cannon bone region. This tear causes a curved, bow-like swelling on the back of the leg between the knee and the ankle."

it doesn't sound like a good prognosis.

 

[3waycross]

http://www.athletic-animals.com/bowed.htm

"When people say a horse is "bowed", or that it has a "bowed tendon", they are generally referring to tearing of the superficial digital flexor tendon in the middle of the cannon bone region. This tear causes a curved, bow-like swelling on the back of the leg between the knee and the ankle."

it doesn't sound like a good prognosis.

It never is Rego. Saw it a lot on the racetrack. The prefered treatment then was to pinfire them and turn em out of 6 months. Personally I always thought the 6 months of rest helped a lot more than the pinfire!