Cow sliced leg need info

[skruzich]

My jersey heiffer sliced her leg today, how i really don't know but she did a bang up job.
It is about 4" from the top of her right hoof all the way down to the hoof and about 3" diamter chunk.
There is a flap hanging that has some meat still attached, but it is too stiff now to push up against the wound and wrap. I have to wait til tomorrow to get supplies to treat it. Yeah i know, i should have had them already. I didn't and i have to wait. Trust me i am kicking my own butt for it now.

What i need to know is how fast will flies hit it and how fast will i have to fight maggots. It will be later on tomorrow afternoon before i can get supplies and wrap.

She is walking on it so no loss of use, and its not bleeding.

I'm geting swat for fly control, peroxide to clean it, gauze and vetrap to bind the wound but the problem i have is that flap of skin and meat won't push back up. How long does it take to die to where i can cut it off without getting myself killed in the process

 

[dun]

Flies will strike it within hours. As long as you clean it thoroughly tomorrow and keep the flies away after that you shouldn;t have issues with maggots.

 

[skruzich]

What about that chunk of skin with flesh that is still attached. I am not brave enough to cut it off. That sucker will hurt.

 

[skruzich]

I'm sorry about the questions. I am realtively new at this. I started out with one cow and have slowly built up my herd to 4. I did call vet he told me to wrap it. But i can't push the flap up against the wound as it is stiff now. Vet said it will granulize and i can trim it off but won't the flys strike that part.

 

[talltimber]

I'm no vet, but I would flush it good. Hold a water hose on it for 10 minutes, or longer for anti swelling therapy, pack it with nitrofurazone (sp), clean the mating surfaces very well (no dirt, etc in the wound) press the flap back where it goes, and wrap it with gauze and vetwrap. Don't pull the vetwrap too awful tight you will cut off circulation. Wrap the first layers with very little tension, then put just enough tension on the top wraps to hold it in place. Keep her out of the deep mud/manure. Unwrap in a couple days to inspect, and repeat.

With that said, my experiences using this method is on horses and they are much easier handled for this type of stuff. Good luck.

 

[M-5]

Tall timber nailed it. All you can do At this point is try and keep it clean and let it heal on its own

 

[skruzich]

Thank you folks for your information. She is the second jersey milk cow for me, in my goal of having 3 milk cows to milk. Most of what i know was learned by watching my grandpa 45 years ago, and its slow going.
So far i have done pretty good up until this point. Vet said that it was inevitable for it to happen as his belief is that a cows only existance is for is to find a unique way to end up dead.

I don't have much in the line of timber in my pasture, but my barn got nailed by a high windstorm and i'm working to clean it up. It could be she got into a piece of tin i don't see yet. The wind scattered it all over the place.
To complicate matters in cleaning up and working on her, i have a 1200lb jersey bull in the pasture that snorts and shows his ass from time to time. I know dangerous to have but required for me to have if i want calves. Going to put up some panels today on the leanto barn to put her in and work on her in there so i can keep him and the other cows out and i can use the 6x6 poles to hold her in place.
I got a fingernail soft brush to use to try and clean the wound before dressing it and wrapping it. Is this too much to expect for me to be able to do? I figure the brush even as soft as it is will remove eggs and debris from the wound then i can irrigate it with water and some hydro peroxide to kill the bacteria before triple antibiotic ointmnet and a wrap.

I have someone thats going to help me we are going to halter her to the post and then tie a rope to the leg so she doesn't kill me with a kick and he'll be holding that leg taut so i can work on it.

I've done bullet wounds for horses (yeah someone shot my friends horse) and i didn't get killed over it. LOL.
I just really hate stressing my animals out. But this has to be done.

 

[BigYoung]

I like to put my hydrogen peroxide in a Home Depot style quart spray bottle to spray wounds

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Tall timber nailed it. All you can do At this point is try and keep it clean and let it heal on its own

Yep! Worry about that flap when it is scabbed over good. A blood stop powder will kill back any proudflesh that developes, but don't put it on right away. It dries it out, and for healing, you want "wet". The yellow goop Tall timber mentioned is the ticket!

 

[Cross-7]

Catron spray to keep flies off

http://www.jefferspet.com/products/catr ... aQoduM4Pgw

 

[milkmaid]

It is about 4" from the top of her right hoof all the way down to the hoof and about 3" diamter chunk.
There is a flap hanging that has some meat still attached, but it is too stiff now to push up against the wound and wrap

How long does it take to die to where i can cut it off without getting myself killed in the process

Typically after it's infected and gross and the cow is lame on it... depending on the type of flap and whether it's narrow enough to lose blood supply, maybe not even then.

Which way is the flap? Wounds with the flap on the top aspect of the wound drain down and tend to heal pretty well. If the flap is on the bottom side of the wound, crud will pool in it and cook up a nasty infection that tends to go deeper (e.g. into joints) rather than draining appropriately.

I treat and wrap all my bovine leg injuries like I would for a horse. If she were here... I'd sedate, block with local anesthetic, trim the flap, clip from fetlock to hock/knee, scrub the wound thoroughly and bandage. I've plenty yet to learn, but I have a good track record with some really nasty leg injuries. This may be a situation where you should have your vet out...

Also... please note that Nitrofurazone and Blu-Kote are both prohibited in food producing animals. Always check labels... most horse stuff is unfortunately not OK to use on cattle.

 

[Gators Rule]

call me crazy, but I have seen this work on horses when nothing else would....including two vets. I would have never believed it, but when I saw it, I became a believer.

clean with water.....then spray it down good with apple cider vinegar (not imitation), and then completely cover with ground black pepper, and spray again with apple cider vinegar to help hold it in place. it won't burn, but be careful that you don't get dirt on your eyes when they pop out of your head in amazement. do this for a few days. I have never seen a wound heal so fast.

 

[skruzich]

Ok folks, FInally i got some help. I had to build a catchpen. Got her in the catchpen, (No small feat with a 1200lb jersey bull ticked off that i am messing with his girls), But i managed to herd him off and separate hima nd her and get her to run into the pen. I made myself a show stick out of pvc pipe and a t connector to loop a rope halter around her head and nose. took about 10 -15 min of rubbing her with the stick and then looped it right over.
Then it was another hour to coax her up to the barn's 6x6 corner post and tie her to it. went around her and pushed her towards the barn sideways and she instinctually went towards the corner there to try and get out and i cinched up her head with only a foot of rope slack.

Wound was already scabbed over fairly well, no maggots to be seen. I did peroxide the whole thing to clean any possible eggs and all, smeared the nirtostuff on the wound and gave her a pen-g shot. I don't see any sense in wrapping it as its going to storm tonight and tomorrow and get all kinds of wet and muddy and i don't want wet bandages on her leg as that creates more problems. I finally got her to where she just let me walk up to her when she was set free, I did put a control chain halter on her so i can catch her more easily.

as far as this not using the nitrofurazone on food animals as its off label. Hell most of what i do is off label with my animals these days. I don't think its going to hurt a thing since its OK to use Nitrofurazone is also used as a feed additive (0.05%) to control intestinal bacterial and coccidial infections. The withdrawal time for nitrofurazone in pigs is 5 days. Yet they prohibit it for topical use. I think someone up in the FDA is full of male bovine excrement don't you?

Soo right now i am just letting it heal i'll check it after the storms stop and it starts drying up and retreat with the nitrofurazone after it drys up. Keep a eye on her and if i see any infection or fly activity i've got 2 more quarts of peroxide as well as wrap and stuff.

 

[skruzich]

I like to put my hydrogen peroxide in a Home Depot style quart spray bottle to spray wounds

Honestly its cheap enough and comes with a squirt top i flooded the wound generously several times.Then rinsed off with some distilled water and let dry then put the salve on.

 

[skruzich]

I treat and wrap all my bovine leg injuries like I would for a horse. If she were here... I'd sedate, block with local anesthetic, trim the flap, clip from fetlock to hock/knee, scrub the wound thoroughly and bandage. I've plenty yet to learn, but I have a good track record with some really nasty leg injuries. This may be a situation where you should have your vet out...

Also... please note that Nitrofurazone and Blu-Kote are both prohibited in food producing animals. Always check labels... most horse stuff is unfortunately not OK to use on cattle.

vet doesn't want to come out. Said he didn't think it was bad enough for him to do it. He knows i work on my animals and usually all he has to do is tell me what to do. This time though i was more worried about the death factor of myself with a 1200lb bull and a young cow i've not messed with since she was born. Now she's kinda comfortable with me and doesn't backup on me when i touch her after working with her today. Though she was pretty well stressed by the time i was done. I hate stressing them.

 

[skruzich]

call me crazy, but I have seen this work on horses when nothing else would....including two vets. I would have never believed it, but when I saw it, I became a believer.

clean with water.....then spray it down good with apple cider vinegar (not imitation), and then completely cover with ground black pepper, and spray again with apple cider vinegar to help hold it in place. it won't burn, but be careful that you don't get dirt on your eyes when they pop out of your head in amazement. do this for a few days. I have never seen a wound heal so fast.

actually cayenne pepper works better than black in the tissue regeneration department. The capsican grows new tissue fast. Water therapy is also good for wounds. Just gets really expensive when your buying your water at 10 dollars a thousand.

 

[skruzich]

I want to thank you folks for the suggestions. I'll post how its doing as i treat it the next couple weeks.

 

[Brute 23]

Flush it with water once or twice a day and spray some sort of cut heal on it. No need to wrap it or peroxide or any thing like that.

With any animal the best thing you can do is flush the wound with water as often as possible and try to keep them in a clean environment. Only staple, sew, or wrap if you need to hold some thing vital in. An antibiotic shot doesn't hurt either.

 

[skruzich]

Ok. thats what i am working with. It looks decent this morning. Main thing i wanted to make sure is that since its so hot and flys are so bad they don't lay eggs.

I did give a pen-g shot to boost her. I don't think it will need anymore than 5ccs that i gave her. It wasn't infected to begin with.

 

[Cross-7]

Ok. thats what i am working with. It looks decent this morning. Main thing i wanted to make sure is that since its so hot and flys are so bad they don't lay eggs.

I did give a pen-g shot to boost her. I don't think it will need anymore than 5ccs that i gave her. It wasn't infected to begin with.

Catron for fly control