Corkscrew claw treatment

[Manunitedtopgear]

Hello everyone, this is my first time on this board and I have a question concerning my 7 month old heifer. I took her to the vets a couple of months ago and he said she might have cc claw, another vet there said he did not think she did. Anyways I am wondering if anyone as any experience with this, how do I tell if she has it and does anyone have a cow that has cc claw that they have kept and treated in any way. Her claws are curved inward but they don't look like characteristic cc claw to me. Any advice would help me, I run a very small farm and I don't want to cull her. Thank you

 

[dun]

Give her time. If the toes continue to cross, cull her. There is no long term treatment. You can trim the toes every 6 months or so but that won;t really help. She'll end up sore footed and lamed up from it eventually.

 

[Manunitedtopgear]

Is there a diffrence between cc claw and scissor claw, personally from the pictures I have seen of both it looks more like scissor claw to me

 

[Supa Dexta]

And most likely giving it to her off spring and spreading the problem. Best not to get attached. Cause then she has a heifer, and she's cute so you keep her, and her bad toes dont show up for 2 yrs when she has her 1st calf.. And then that calf has bad feet, her mother has had a couple more calves with bad feet in the meantime, and suddenly you have a mess on your hands.

 

[Manunitedtopgear]

As far as I have looked up this is an autosomal recessive trait which means her offspring would have to receive a copy of the bad Gene from her mom and her dad to be affected by the bad trait. Does anyone on here have a cc cow?. I am just bummed by this situation because I just spent 600 dollars getting a bone chip removed from her leg.

 

[Rafter S]

Welcome to the forum. You said one vet disagreed about her having a foot problem. With that in mind, I'd probably wait and see if it gets bad. If if does, you need to ask yourself a question. "Is this heifer a pet, or do I hope to make money with cattle?" If she's a pet and you're emotionally attached to her, keep her and get her feet trimmed when needed. Maybe get her spayed so she won't pass it along. If she's not a pet, my advice would be to cull her.
As far as the money you spent on the bone chip, that money is gone. Spending more money on her won't bring it back.
And please don't misunderstand me here. If she's a pet, I'm not making any moral judgments about it. She's your heifer and as far as I'm concerned you can do whatever you want to with her. But keep in mind that most of us here are commercial cattle people, even if it's on a small scale for some of us, so that will color the advice you get. And you did come here asking for advice.

 

[Manunitedtopgear]

I don't misunderstand what everyone is saying, I understand what everyone is saying and I greatly appreciate it. Thank you for all the advice you guys have given me I have to take her to the vets to get her hooves clipped in a couple of weeks I guess I will wait and see what he says and go from there

 

[Manunitedtopgear]

I took some pictures of her feet this morning let me know what you guys think, her back feet are fine its just her front feet that are effected.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Yeah they're gonna get curly and she's only young for that to be happening so soon.

 

[jerry27150]

they don't look bad at all, nothing I would worry about

 

[gizmom]

Hate to tell you but it's only going to get worse. Cull cull cull the boss says if you have to trim feet do it right behind the ears and you will only need to do it once.


https://extension.tennessee.edu/Wilson/ ... 20Claw.pdf
Gizmom

 

[Supa Dexta]

they don't look bad at all, nothing I would worry about

At 7 months of age you think claws should be turning inward and upward?

Those feet will end up like this and be very painful for her.

http://dairyhoofhealth.info/wp-content/ ... w-Claw.png

There's enough things to worry about with cattle, than always having to trim their feet. Trying your luck at genetic roulette, to see if they pass it on isn't a wise move either. As I said it could take a couple years to show up in a heifer and then you're attached to her too. Been there, done that - wisened up.

 

[Manunitedtopgear]

I am working on becoming a large animal vet, so I am curious why is it necessarily going to get worse, I mean what happens with the hoof that will make it curl more then it is right now?

 

[dun]

Tine will cause it to curl worse. The toes won;t wear as the should and they'll just keep getting longer and longer

 

[Supa Dexta]

Exactly, its feet will continue to get more sore and it will walk on its heals to compensate for it, therefore not putting any weight on the front. So they wont wear at all, continuing to get longer, and longer Curling as they do.

This really is one of those things that should be bred out of them, not masked with constant trimmings.

 

[Manunitedtopgear]

I am just not sure what to do, I will take her to the vets and see what he says

 

[Manunitedtopgear]

I also forgot to mention that when I took her to the vets he also said she had laminitis, I don't know if this changes anything or not.

 

[dun]

That could change things. That itself could be the reason for the screwed up toes. Depending on her diet now, you might want to cut back on the grain

 

[Manunitedtopgear]

I stopped feeding her grain about 3 weeks ago and I switched from alfalfa to grass hay, if this is causing the screwed up toes how long would it take before I might notice any diffrence in her feet. Are we talking about days, weeks, months?

 

[double v]

knowing you don't want to cull, look at all the things you listed as ailments. She is not a year old, do you think as she gets older and heavier her feet will do better? She will have a lifetime of foot problems and if you breed her it will be passed down the line. Cut your loses before you put more into her. Just remember they haven't stop making cows sure there is others out there for you. good luck