Cattle Dehorn Issue

[Legacy38464]

I dehorned an older cow yesterday morning and once the horn was cut off the was a hollow space almost the size of the entire horn into the head......Dehorned many head and have seen some hollow spots but this is more than I have ever witnessed...Has anyone ever seen this and if so what concerns would you have....

 

[Hippie Rancher]

I don't dehorn unless one is growing into the face, but I have heard of "hollow horn" and know there are various scary sounding folk "remedies" that I don't think I would try, but I would have a concern about infection and might rinse it good with betadine or something. Hope a vet responds to your question, I am curious.

 

[Avalon]

STRANGE, on the lighter side, she maky be like some cows of mine. NO BRAINS

 

[Legacy38464]

I don't dehorn unless one is growing into the face, but I have heard of "hollow horn" and know there are various scary sounding folk "remedies" that I don't think I would try, but I would have a concern about infection and might rinse it good with betadine or something. Hope a vet responds to your question, I am curious.

Thats the reason we dehorned this one and had been waiting for the cool weather for the fly issue, I did betedine it, and could see nothing in the hole that caused concern, but when the old man was surprized I decided to do a little checking on here...Thanks

 

[Legacy38464]

STRANGE, on the lighter side, she maky be like some cows of mine. NO BRAINS

I am quite sure that is a definett posssibility, she's a little can-tankorus at times, causing me to use those four letter word preceding stupid cow..... :lol: but she raises a great calf..

 

[Legacy38464]

Not surprising. What you are seeing is the opening to her inner sinuses. You will see that when you de horn them properly. I would watch her real good and make sure there is no infection.

I will keep an eye on her, there was little bleeding...So will this opening close? THanks

 

[TexLonghornRanch]

Pictures please!

I'm sure Milkmaid can use one for her collection.

 

[KNERSIE]

Not surprising. What you are seeing is the opening to her inner sinuses. You will see that when you de horn them properly. I would watch her real good and make sure there is no infection.

I will keep an eye on her, there was little bleeding...So will this opening close? THanks

The opening will close in time, make sure flies don't lay their eggs in the wound. If you still have flies around you can put some cotton wool coated in Stockholm tar in the sinus to basically plug it and the smell of the Stockholm tar will keeps flies away.

Another home remedy is to put Condice' Crystals (sp?) in the wound, it reacts with the blood and basically sears the wound. It will burn your fingers so wear rubber gloves.

If you see any discharge after a week or so rather be safe than sorry and investigate, that is usually the first sign of maggots.

 

[KNERSIE]

Not surprising. What you are seeing is the opening to her inner sinuses. You will see that when you de horn them properly. I would watch her real good and make sure there is no infection.

I will keep an eye on her, there was little bleeding...So will this opening close? THanks

The opening will close in time, make sure flies don't lay their eggs in the wound. If you still have flies around you can put some cotton wool coated in Stockholm tar in the sinus to basically plug it and the smell of the Stockholm tar will keeps flies away.

Another home remedy is to put Condice' Crystals (sp?) in the wound, it reacts with the blood and basically sears the wound. It will burn your fingers so wear rubber gloves.

If you see any discharge after a week or so rather be safe than sorry and investigate, that is usually the first sign of maggots.

I forgot to mention a good spraying with gention violet will also hasten the healing process and keep flies away.

 

[Legacy38464]

Not surprising. What you are seeing is the opening to her inner sinuses. You will see that when you de horn them properly. I would watch her real good and make sure there is no infection.

I will keep an eye on her, there was little bleeding...So will this opening close? THanks

The opening will close in time, make sure flies don't lay their eggs in the wound. If you still have flies around you can put some cotton wool coated in Stockholm tar in the sinus to basically plug it and the smell of the Stockholm tar will keeps flies away.

Another home remedy is to put Condice' Crystals (sp?) in the wound, it reacts with the blood and basically sears the wound. It will burn your fingers so wear rubber gloves.

If you see any discharge after a week or so rather be safe than sorry and investigate, that is usually the first sign of maggots.

Thanks
The weather is getting cold this weeK (supposedly) so hopefully the flies will be less of an issue...

 

[milkmaid]

Yep, pics would be nice. ;-) The hole is normal... as mentioned, she now has an open hole into her sinus cavity. Keep an eye on her especially if the weather changes or it rains... I've seen some pretty nasty cases when they get an infection going in there. Otherwise, she should be fine. I usually pack the hole with a cottonball or two to keep it covered, personal preference. The opening will scab over within a week if I remember right, but it'll prolly take it a few weeks or more to actually heal, depending on the size of the hole.

 

[rockridgecattle]

i have one word....OUCH :shock:

 

[novatech]

Not surprising. What you are seeing is the opening to her inner sinuses. You will see that when you de horn them properly. I would watch her real good and make sure there is no infection.

I will keep an eye on her, there was little bleeding...So will this opening close? THanks

The opening will close in time, make sure flies don't lay their eggs in the wound. If you still have flies around you can put some cotton wool coated in Stockholm tar in the sinus to basically plug it and the smell of the Stockholm tar will keeps flies away.

Another home remedy is to put Condice' Crystals (sp?) in the wound, it reacts with the blood and basically sears the wound. It will burn your fingers so wear rubber gloves.

If you see any discharge after a week or so rather be safe than sorry and investigate, that is usually the first sign of maggots.

Thanks
The weather is getting cold this weeK (supposedly) so hopefully the flies will be less of an issue...

I agree that they will heal over in time, and I have used the tar like substance along with cotton balls in the past.
Y'all might find that the maggots may not be so bad after all.
Go to: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... icine.html
There is a lot more info on the net about this.

 

[Joy of Texas]

I had to treat a heifer sunday for an infection from dehorning. We got her in the chute so I could clean the wound. Then we gave a shot of antibiotics. Out of 15 we had done she is the only one that didn't heal up.
You do need to watch the rain and real cold weather. They will get a "cold". Snotty nose and droopy ears. I guess they kind of look like us when we feel like crap.
As far as healing time it vary's. These were done over a month ago. The holes on everyone has closed. But this heifer has a hole the size of a pencil.The other side completely healed. So there's no telling. She could have rubbed up on something. I just check on her daily.

 

[cgraves]

I had a vet dehorn one for me. Boy was she mad after I got her on the trailer to carry her to the vet. I think she was afraid I was not going to carry her back home. She was a totally different animal on the way home. I think she realized that she was headed back home. It cost me twenty dollars but I would have paid $120 to get rid of those horns. The sinus cavity stuff was a little nasty when he first cut the horns but he packed with cotton and cauterized, so no big hole anymore. I will have to admit it makes my head hurt to think about it but she was getting dangerous to be around. When I ask vet what else I needed to do after I got her home all he told me is to turn her back out onto pasture. I'm keeping a close watch on her though. Good Luck with yours!!

GOD bless and have a great Thanksgiving!!!

 

[novatech]

Just another note. Many times I have seen what looks like puss running down the sides of their face, coming from the amputated horn cavity. Remember that hole in their head is a sinus cavity. Most of the time it is not puss you are seeing but snot. If you think it is an infection take their temperature.

 

[Alice]

I had a vet dehorn one for me. Boy was she mad after I got her on the trailer to carry her to the vet. I think she was afraid I was not going to carry her back home. She was a totally different animal on the way home. I think she realized that she was headed back home. It cost me twenty dollars but I would have paid $120 to get rid of those horns. The sinus cavity stuff was a little nasty when he first cut the horns but he packed with cotton and cauterized, so no big hole anymore. I will have to admit it makes my head hurt to think about it but she was getting dangerous to be around. When I ask vet what else I needed to do after I got her home all he told me is to turn her back out onto pasture. I'm keeping a close watch on her though. Good Luck with yours!!

GOD bless and have a great Thanksgiving!!!

I remember Daddy dehorning when I was a kid. It was a nasty job. A year ago, I remember my brother dehorning steers before they went to the feedlot...again, a nasty job.

We recently had 2 heifers dehorned by the vet...that's the only way to go.

Alice

 

[Hippie Rancher]

One of the neighbors dehorns his calves with a hot tube when he brands, but I don't notice much price difference at the sale for doing it. Castrating seems to pay about $50/head so that is definitely worth doing.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I dehorned an older cow yesterday morning and once the horn was cut off the was a hollow space almost the size of the entire horn into the head......Dehorned many head and have seen some hollow spots but this is more than I have ever witnessed...Has anyone ever seen this and if so what concerns would you have....

Dairy guys usually cut back that far at about a 45 degree angle to end up with a smooth looking head. When you open up the sinus passages during real cold weather you can see "smoke" signals coming out of the top of the head when they exhale.

 

[Legacy38464]

Thanks to everyone for the help...The cow seems to be fine and no adverse effects so far but I will continue to watch since we've had some rain the last week......Thanks Again