Calve with Deformed front legs

[Anonymous]

The calve was born about a week ago and his front legs are curved in. He cant stand on his hooves because of the bend in his knees. I was wondering if theres any hope for him or if theres anyway to fix his legs. Hes a strong eater and ive been feeding him his mothers milk in a bottle becuase he cant reach high enough to milk. I just wanted someones advice or past experiences with a deformed calf. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou

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[Anonymous]

Not sure just how his legs are. If they are "buckled" over & can't straighten them out, that is usually just tight tendons and will straighten out with use. If they are truly "deformed", they may never change but it may learn to "get along" as is. In this case, you should only be raising it to harvest. If it is a purebred registered animal, you need to notify the breed association in case it is heritable. If you have an experienced neighbor, you might ask them to look at it. Jeanne
> The calve was born about a week
> ago and his front legs are curved
> in. He cant stand on his hooves
> because of the bend in his knees.
> I was wondering if theres any hope
> for him or if theres anyway to fix
> his legs. Hes a strong eater and
> ive been feeding him his mothers
> milk in a bottle becuase he cant
> reach high enough to milk. I just
> wanted someones advice or past
> experiences with a deformed calf.
> Any help would be greatly
> appreciated. Thankyou

Simme Valley in NY
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[Anonymous]

Without seeing the calf, if his legs are just buckled under, you can try sheet, or rolled cotton, and brown gause the vet wrap or duct tape, this will protect the legs but also help to staighten them out.

Wrap the legs from the claws to above the knee, have someone help you, lay calf down, them after a think covering of cotton, wrap over with a six inch brown gause, then cover with vet wrap, or duct tape, the duct tape is better as it dose not give as much.

But the calf will need to be helped as it will be difficlt to stand, this is a method often used on horses, but works well on calves too, treatment may take two to three weeks in really extreme cases. Wraps can stay on for upto a few days, best to check to make sure good circulation is occuring and let the calf try and stand with out them for a while, then re-wrap. Coton can be reused if clean. Cut duct tape with a knife or bandage sissors. Good luck.

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