HELP ...............joint problems in new born

[pushpendra]

Am a Indian farmer also new to this forum so excuse for poor language. Since a year two three cows have given birth to calf with a poor joint in thier front legs during birth out of which two of them also died due to unable to move. Also the cattle I own are pedgreed since 80 years and such history of poor joint has not been found anywhere. Can it be a genetic defect ? our water carries flouride in excess out here, so can that be the reason? or anything else. Please send ur valued comments even personaly on my mail i.d. [email protected]
:cry2:

 

[dun]

Could be genetic, could be a mineral deficiency, could be some strange disease that affected the cows while they were bred. Way too many "could be's" for anything definitive. Did you cut the joints open and examine them?

 

[jilleroo]

We use underground water with a much higher than desirable flouride content and breed cattle with no problems in either their bones or teeth. We are in Australia.

 

[Joy of Texas]

Since I just had this problem,maybe I can help. I had one 3 yr.old have a calf about a month and a half ago. The calf was acting strange so I caught her and brought her in. I fixed some colostrum for her and for the next couple of days she seem to be better so I took her back to the cow. The next 2 days she went down hill fast. I took her to the vet and he said she did not recieve enough colostrum early enough. Either the cows teats were stopped up or the calf did not drink enough . So after discussing my opts. we decided to put her down. I was told she would always have joint problems. Which is treatable,but expensive. She would probably died of pneumonia soon.
Have you checked with a vet ? I agree with Dun it could be anything. But it sure sounds like what happened to my calf.

 

[pushpendra]

Thank You Dun, but if there was a genetic problem it should happen to many issues. And the veterinary side here in India is extreemly weak. All the cattles are on God's grace. No one is ready to become a vet, those who get failed in medical as an docter chose to become a vet. All the aid is done by us , farmers by getting advices from our elders.So kindly send more could be's if you can spare some time, because from that I study all by myself the reasons and maybe I come to a conclusion. :roll:

 

[pushpendra]

Since I just had this problem,maybe I can help. I had one 3 yr.old have a calf about a month and a half ago. The calf was acting strange so I caught her and brought her in. I fixed some colostrum for her and for the next couple of days she seem to be better so I took her back to the cow. The next 2 days she went down hill fast. I took her to the vet and he said she did not recieve enough colostrum early enough. Either the cows teats were stopped up or the calf did not drink enough . So after discussing my opts. we decided to put her down. I was told she would always have joint problems. Which is treatable,but expensive. She would probably died of pneumonia soon.
Have you checked with a vet ? I agree with Dun it could be anything. But it sure sounds like what happened to my calf.

Deae Mr.Joy, we the rule is to feed the colostrum to the calf within 4 hours after birth adn that we strictly follow, this problem was staight from her birth, the newbron wa not able to feed by itself so we fed it by bolttle but yes the colostrum. Dun says that this maybe a diesease but this has not happened once at a time but since three years I have seen this happen to sime. Also the bull has changed and the same occured form the previous bull but yes not to the same cows but to different cows. Go on sending your views I am already free form sime of my doubts like the flouride one. as per the Australian gentleman replied.

 

[dun]

Did you have any unusaul weather condityions during these pregnancys? This is a reach, but abnormally wet years can bring out disease problems that haven;t been seen before or maybe in many many years.
Even with vaccinations, sometimes a disease pathogen just a little different from what is the usual and isn;t in the vaqccine can cause problems. If it is a wide spread problem and occurs randomly I would think of a nutrional problem. Feed raised from a different sourse if you bring in feed, a different strain of the same kind of feed or in soil that has been fertilized and caused a change in the plant, etc.
Changing the bull if the bulls had an ancestor in common doesn;t rule out genetics.
Sorry, I'm just grasping at straws.

 

[jilleroo]

What percentage of your calves then have had this problem? Do you have many calves a year or only a few? It makes a difference regarding the size of the problem. Are they brahman or another breed?
Hey - and I'm a "lady", not a "gentleman"!!!

 

[KNERSIE]

I'm leaning towards a more common problem... a few bad cases of contracted tendons?

I had 2 calves with CT this season, both happened to be born in the same week, coincidence..... or not?

 

[dun]

While I was BSing with the vet today I brought this subject up. The causes he could think of off the top of his head were; several mineral deficiencys would cause it along with certain strains of BVD type disease like blue tongue and others of the same type. Also said it could be genetic. I would look at my mineral program first and my vaccination program second.

 

[rockridgecattle]

i apologize, having a hard time following...limited brain waves on my part...what are the chances of navel ill set in early. If if sets in fast it can lead to joint problems in a new born in less than 12 hours...seen it happen over night. If left untreated it can die quickly.
Check the navel (unbilical cord area) to see if it is hot or hard.
just a thought

 

[KNERSIE]

Another very likely cause if the problem is higher than the fetlock joint is brucellosis. What does the ICP of the herd look like, any abortions lately or late calving cows or slow reproduction?

 

[pushpendra]

Sorry if I said gentleman but as I told before that I am a bit weak in English, I am form India and not used to this language in regular practice s kindly dont fel bad. Anyways the cows I own are pure indegenous of the best Indian breed known as " GIR". Years back and it was exported even to Brazil where nowadays it is in lakhs. This breed is the most sturdy and immune to heavy epidemics and can withstand the worst conditions as it has like femine.floods and hunger. So as dun said that maybe thier was some diesease it could be but their are less chances. And also we provide all our cows with extra minerals and calcium during pregnancy and special care is taken like the cows who are in thier 6 month of preganancy they are seperated from the herd till their delivery date. It was my fault, I should have operated the front leg of the dead calf by a vet and atleast could have known something or the other. Thanks forum, I dont know what is in the future but do know that IF this happens next time I will surely get a operation done of the calf legs. Also this problem has been seen in four calf out of 30 born form the same bull so this is the average. Thank You forum.

 

[pushpendra]

Dear Mr.Dun , I do vaccinate the herd for FMD and in Cows form Indian origin do not get into other dieases except FMD. Thanks for spending ur time.