Founder, Foot Rot, pinched nerve or something else?

[USAxBrad]

Moved these cows to a new pasture to get ready for calving season on the 9/11. She walked across just fine when moving them. New pasture is very lush fescue and clover. On 9/13 noticed the limp, thought nothing of it besides it being foot rot. Just had some 6 inches of rain over the weekend. Got the dart gun, shot her with 10cc of Draxxin. Came back a day later found her like this. Called a more experienced Cattle man and he thought it could be maybe a pinched nerve, she is awfully close to calving. Called the vet, he was coming out on 9/17 to preg check spring cows, would take a look then. By Saturday she was moving better but still likes to lay down more than normal and has problems standing and limps pretty good. Vet looked at her, said she might have foundered, wanted me to monitor her close but didn't want to do anything till the calf was born. As of this morning she very close to calving but still having issues but not as bad as what you will see in the video. Just curious if anyone else has any other ideas of what it might be. Thank you in advance.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/8E_BclweGxo[/youtube]

 

[Jessica06]

I would have said pinched nerve until I saw the video. All the ones we have that start limping around close to calving are always down in the hind legs, though. Her problem looks like it's everywhere. I hope calving cures her, she's a nice cow! I would definitely say no to footrot, especially since the Draxxin didn't seem to have any effect.

 

[USAxBrad]

Thank you Rice, just checked her again, she was up moving with the herd, no calf. Still a limp though.

 

[milkmaid]

She walks like a laminitis case.... I usually see them on grain but with a history of changing to rich feed of any sort that would be my top guess. Draxxin isn't going to fix her.

I'd pull her off that pasture for starters.

BTW...that's not a "limp." That's very, very painful on all four legs, short steps, walks like she's on eggshells, trying to keep weight off her feet by limiting her stride and balancing on the back of her hooves rather than the front like a normal cow... huge difference between that and footrot (painful on ONE limb).

 

[angus9259]

She walks like a laminitis case.... I usually see them on grain but with a history of changing to rich feed of any sort that would be my top guess. Draxxin isn't going to fix her.

I'd pull her off that pasture for starters.

BTW...that's not a "limp." That's very, very painful on all four legs, short steps, walks like she's on eggshells, trying to keep weight off her feet by limiting her stride and balancing on the back of her hooves rather than the front like a normal cow... huge difference between that and footrot (painful on ONE limb).

x2. Last time I saw that was 20 years ago when I first got into cows and learned about feeding too much corn.

 

[Bigfoot]

Looks like she is trying to founder. That's pretty rare for a cow on just grass.

 

[USAxBrad]

She is just on grass and mineral though.....but she doesn't walk like that anymore, she's moving around a lot better now. She just did that for 1 day. But thank you, my vet thought the same thing. Will continue to keep a close eye on her, if she dips back down I will get some panels out there and get her off the pasture. Thank you guys and gals!

 

[creekdrive]

Had one that looked exactly like that last fall. She was on grass when it happened too. Seems like it would come and go. Some days she walks like nothing is wrong and others acts like all 4 feet hurt. She never lost body condition even before we decided to put her in the corral so she didn't have far to go for feed/water. Since she was bred we kept her around, she calved in April and once we wean this calf she will be gone. She spent most of the winter in the corral and all this summer too. Had a vet take a quick look at her when he was here for something else - his only thought was founder. Just seemed odd it would happen on grass.

When it first happened her feet looked great - couldn't see a thing wrong with them that would cause it structurally. Now after almost a year she is extremely flat footed. She walks pretty good now for the most part, but her feet are awful looking.

 

[USAxBrad]

Made a full recovery it looks like! No sign of any soreness while she circled me. She had a 95lb Bull Calf within the last 2 hours or so. If it was founder do they recover this quick? Talking within 11 days since I noticed it and darted her with draxxin.

 

[dun]

I would wager it was a pinched nerve. Some cows get hem from the position of the calf during late pregnancy

 

[Stocker Steve]

Looks like she is trying to founder. That's pretty rare for a cow on just grass.

We see one flounder on grass every couple years, but I have never seen it right before calving.

 

[USAxBrad]

That's what I am guessing is more the pinched nerve but waiting to hear from milkmaid on recovery of founder?