Is this a reason to cull?

[mitch2]

Now that I bought some more cows, I am looking MORE closely at a few to possibly cull while the prices are hot.

I have one I have a question on. She has cracks running straight up her hooves? I never noticed it before, none others have this, that I have seen yet. She has never been lame. She is a 3yr old.

What causes this? Should I be concerned? Should she go?

Michele

 

[dun]

Interesting you should mention this. I have the vets cows here and 2 of them have cracks from the sole all the way to the coronary band. One is a coming 3 year old the other is a 7 year old. Asked the vet and he said they've alwasy had them and have never had any prbolems. They aren;t related, and he has no idea what the deal is with them.
So, if that's the only reason she would be higher on the cull list then another cow, I wouldn;t ship her just because of that.

 

[mitch2]

Thanks Dun! I do not wish to cull her (for now).

Here she is... I know springtime, calf about week to 10 days old.

Michele

 

[mnmtranching]

I don't know what causes it? I'm guessing it's normal, don't see any relation to foot rot or other problems. We have lot of those cracks on cows hooves and no foot problems.

 

[Aaron]

Here is more info on sandcracks.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index ... /90522.htm

Don't worry about them. Our herd probably averages about 10% on the sandcracks. I am a believer it is due to a change in feed from high fibre to low fibre. They heal up eventually, and I have never seen one cause an animal to go lame.

 

[cfpinz]

It would take a lot more than cracked hooves to make me sell that cow.

Even if I see something that poses a potential problem, I still have a hard time selling an animal that hasn't caused any extra work. In your case, this cow may possibly never have any feet issues but who knows about the one you would buy to replace her. Any time you bring another animal in you're taking a chance.

 

[KNERSIE]

If that is one of your culls, you've reached the point where you can be really proud of what you have achieved with your herd.

Vertical hoofcracks usually cause problems in very cold weather when there's a lot of snow or frost on the ground, if they are going to cause any problems at all.

 

[mitch2]

Sandcracks - Never heard of such a thing.... learn something new everyday!

She was definitely not on my cull list, but while checking feet/legs etc I noticed those cracks, and wasn't sure if if was something I "Should" consider culling for.

Knersie - As my husband reminds me "it is better to be lucky than good sometimes"

3 years ago this coming fall, I bought a buttload of stockers... all heifers. We wintered them, and then come the following spring I pulled out a dozen to use for breeding to get back into having calves. All the stockers I bought I made sure they came from reputable farms, and they were farms that are in the balancer business. So I have 11 that are various percentage angus/gelveih. My thinking was that I could probably get some pretty decent commercial stock from ones that didn't necessarily make the grade for them.

Michele

 

[hillsdown]

Micht2 it can be a problem if they have to wade into water to drink as mud gets in the cracks ,drys and causes the feet to become sore.

Not usually a problem though, unless from what I have stated above, some producers will grind the crack right down and it usually grows in solid.

Angus and Gelbvieh, very common with those two breeds, and no I am not bashing as I am a Gelbvieh breeder and also use Angus as balancers.

 

[3waycross]

Michele
If you ended up with cows like that then you have a VERY good eye. It just reinforces my descision to buy reg Gelbvieh's and start down that road. If you decide to cull her I'll send you a bus ticket to Colorado for her.

 

[1982vett]

Cow looks in good shape. Havn't seen pretty green grass like that for 6 weeks.

 

[mitch2]

Here she was this evening, wanted to get a pic of her hoof... but she did not want to cooperate..

Her outside left is worse than this one, but I couldn't get a pic..

And here she is not looking so woolly

Michele

 

[bigbull338]

her hoof does have some bad cracks or crack in it.but i would not cull her.unless the hoof cracked to the point of making her lame.