Cracked hooves

[MurraysMutts]

Been keeping a better eye on feet since the last one went to slaughter. This particular cow is the first born daughter of the one in my freezer now. She is by a son of Total Recall. So she will be about 2 years younger than her mother. Roughly 7 years old
I don't like this.
Is she good for a while? Would you sell before something happens?
Anything preventive that can be done?
Are they just going to get worse? Or possibly stay the same?

 

[Ebenezer]

Maybe it has been discussed. Do you feed adequate iodine in the minerals?
In the big picture she would be gone if she was here. But I just don't tolerate a lot of so-so situations.

 

[aprille218]

They do make hoof filler for horse hooves. Maybe you can clean and disinfect the hooves dry and then use some of that to fill in the cracks.

 

[Travlr]

Been keeping a better eye on feet since the last one went to slaughter. This particular cow is the first born daughter of the one in my freezer now. She is by a son of Total Recall. So she will be about 2 years younger than her mother. Roughly 7 years old
I don't like this.
Is she good for a while? Would you sell before something happens?
Anything preventive that can be done?
Are they just going to get worse? Or possibly stay the same?
View attachment 36155

The shape of the toes is fine... but those cracks, yikes. Considering the history of the cow that made her you might want to consider a limited future.

 

[moses388]

I think you are worrying about nothing. Here is a picture of Limo's feet from Sept 2022 - click here. Limo is that daughter I have out of Romn Justice NALF# NPM1541731. Hoof trimmer was called. Said the cracks were old growth and would eventually wear away. Trimmed her feet and good to go. I still have her. She calved this fall and is doing fine. She has had no further hoof work. That is my experience - yours may be different. I think the hooves on your animal are fine.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I have found (was sent actually) a well written article about it. I found it reassuring to a point.
I'll re-share it here.
In the meantime I'm gonna go look at my bag of loose mineral. However, her and her mother are/were the only ones doing this.

Don’t fret too much over sand cracks in hooves - Canadian Cattlemen

Cracks in the hoof wall are fairly common in beef cattle. Dr. Chris Clark, associate professor of large animal medicine at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon.

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

 

[GoWyo]

My cows get them now and then. Usually appear around fall or winter from ground drying up. Seldom have one get lame from it and if one does go lame, they get over it in a couple weeks.

 

[Silver]

I have found (was sent actually) a well written article about it. I found it reassuring to a point.
I'll re-share it here.
In the meantime I'm gonna go look at my bag of loose mineral. However, her and her mother are/were the only ones doing this.

Don’t fret too much over sand cracks in hooves - Canadian Cattlemen

Cracks in the hoof wall are fairly common in beef cattle. Dr. Chris Clark, associate professor of large animal medicine at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon.

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

I was just going to look for that article but you found it and saved me a bunch of googling!

 

[Warren Allison]

I have found (was sent actually) a well written article about it. I found it reassuring to a point.
I'll re-share it here.
In the meantime I'm gonna go look at my bag of loose mineral. However, her and her mother are/were the only ones doing this.

Don’t fret too much over sand cracks in hooves - Canadian Cattlemen

Cracks in the hoof wall are fairly common in beef cattle. Dr. Chris Clark, associate professor of large animal medicine at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon.

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Corn oill and 100% Biotin crumbles, in a little feed once a day.

 

[Warren Allison]

@MurraysMutts another thing that would help is mud. Do you have a pasture that has a pond in it, that has muddy edges? Or, if she only has water form a trough, you can make it to where it overflows a little, to keep it real muddy around it. Now if she was a cow you ekpot up in a barm and had the time, cloeaningt it off every dayand coating it with bacon grease works great. At least with horses it does.

 

[MurraysMutts]

@MurraysMutts another thing that would help is mud. Do you have a pasture that has a pond in it, that has muddy edges? Or, if she only has water form a trough, you can make it to where it overflows a little, to keep it real muddy around it. Now if she was a cow you ekpot up in a barm and had the time, cloeaningt it off every dayand coating it with bacon grease works great. At least with horses it does.

We've finally gotten a bunch of rain again here! Mud everywhere for a bit.

I'm not sure where I'm gonna end up with her. But I'm not terrible interested in keeping her seperate and giving her special treatment.

 

[Rancher]

can you get close enough to squirt some mineral oil with iodine in the cracks? Happens up north here every fall during freeze up. older cows more then youngens. I think it is dry cold climate change after wet fall season

 

[Silver]

Yes, seems like a large percentage of our cows get this over fall/winter. I don't worry about it.