leg injury Black Angus cattle

[aknack]

We have Black Angus cattle. One of them has appeared to tangled her leg in the barbed or hot wire.
I have been treating the injury for over a month and have gotten it to almost close up. The other night my husband noticed there was pus in the injury so I began to treat and cover the injury again.
We have given the cow antibiotics but have quit after the third large bottle of penicillin. She has since had her calf and it is well. The leg is larger below the injury and feels warmer to the touch than above the injury. She does not put full weight on the hoof. I don't know what else to do for her
as we have contacted the vet and advised us to put her on the antibiotics. Can someone else tell me
what to do?

 

[bandit80]

Sounds like she still has some infection. I don't know what else to do other than keep giving her antibiotics. Maybe the vet could recommend a different antibiotic if pen isn't clearing it up, but it should with enough persistence.

 

[milkmaid]

Where on the leg is the injury located?

 

[aknack]

milkmaid,

the injury is on left rear leg between hoof and first joint.

 

[highvoltagecattleco]

My suggestion would be LA 200 and benamine. The benamine is like cow asparin. Will take down swelling and numb the pain. A lot of folks on here don't like LA 200. I think for this application it or the generic will work very well. You could try doubling your dose of the pen. I have never had good results with pen. Good Luck. :cboy:

 

[bandit80]

the injury is on left rear leg between hoof and first joint.

Not the famous milkmaid, but it could be foot rot. If so, LA 200 always works for me.

 

[milkmaid]

Has the vet looked at her? If not, I'd have her looked at and determine whether or not the infection is in the joints between hoof and fetlock. If it's in the bone that would explain it not clearing up -- 3 bottles of Penn should clear just about anything up if used at a proper dosage (not what's on the label; use it at a minimum of 5mL/100lbs).

If the infection's in the bone then ask your vet about giving an IV of sodium iodide; sometimes it'll clear up bone and joint infections when antibiotics can't.

If the infection is not in the bone, I'd consider the possibility that since the cow isn't using the leg, there's not enough circulation to the hoof to get adequate levels of antibiotics down there. Giving more isn't going to help matters much and she's already a money pit; IMO I'd just leave her alone and see what happens. Give her a chance to get it done on her own over the summer. If she starts losing condition I'd ship her early, otherwise evaluate in the fall at weaning and decide what you're going to do with her.

 

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

what kind of environment are you keeping her in. It could be that she keeps getting re-infected. Do you use iodine on the sore itself?

 

[aknack]

We have the cow and calf penned up in a section of the barn. Every morning and evening we
remove the straw and feces and replace the straw with fresh. As I said before I am bandaging the
injury every day. I have been using Corona ointment on the bandage so it will not stick and maybe
help heal it. As far as having the vet check her, he wants her in a headcatcher and we do not have
one. My husband and I have given her the antibiotic shots so aren't afraid to give her injections.

 

[KNERSIE]

Before shipping her and pumping her full of more antibiotics I'll remove the scab to get the wound open, if you can squeeze some puss out even better.

Draw a 20% hydrogen peroxide, diluted with an equal amount water up in a syringe without using a needle and inject that into the wound untill nothing more boils out, spray with gentian violet and see if there is any improvement within the next few days.

 

[milkmaid]

We have the cow and calf penned up in a section of the barn. Every morning and evening we
remove the straw and feces and replace the straw with fresh. As I said before I am bandaging the
injury every day. I have been using Corona ointment on the bandage so it will not stick and maybe
help heal it. As far as having the vet check her, he wants her in a headcatcher and we do not have
one. My husband and I have given her the antibiotic shots so aren't afraid to give her injections.

Yet again cattle raisers that do not have head gates. How do you expect to treat her? INFRASTRUCTURE should always be in place first before you even put cattle on the place. I wouldnt come out either if I was the vet and you didnt have facilities. That is just an injury waiting to happen. :help: :shock: :roll: :stop:

Nonsense. I don't have a headgate. Don't need one. Not everyone has to have their facilities set up to handle a bunch of nutcases... or maybe you weren't aware of that. :roll: Having a chute doesn't make one any better cowman or any more knowledgeable than someone that doesn't have a chute.

 

[milkmaid]

We have the cow and calf penned up in a section of the barn. Every morning and evening we
remove the straw and feces and replace the straw with fresh. As I said before I am bandaging the
injury every day. I have been using Corona ointment on the bandage so it will not stick and maybe
help heal it. As far as having the vet check her, he wants her in a headcatcher and we do not have
one. My husband and I have given her the antibiotic shots so aren't afraid to give her injections.

Is it possible to put her on pasture or in a dry lot? There are very few times I'd consider stabling a cow or horse, and none are applicable in this case. It'd be good for your cow to be outside in the sun and where she can move -- need to get circulation to that hoof and standing in a stall is counterproductive.

I have the impression you're looking for someone to prescribe a magical antibiotic that will cure your cow in a few days and she'll be good as new. Not going to happen. You haven't mentioned how long she's been like this, but I suspect it's been quite awhile if you've gone through 3 bottles of penicillin. At this point there's a lot of healing that needs to take place and even if the infection is gone as of today, it'd be several weeks, perhaps even months before she's back to normal. Depends on whether or not the infection is in the bone. I have one cow that took about 5 months until she was 90% of normal, and even now (3 1/2 years later) I still have to have her hooves trimmed about 2x/year.

If your vet won't come out, then can you load her up and take her to his clinic?

...and, rereading your post, is this cow's leg bandaged 24/7?

 

[milkmaid]

Nonsense. I don't have a headgate. Don't need one. Not everyone has to have their facilities set up to handle a bunch of nutcases... or maybe you weren't aware of that. :roll: Having a chute doesn't make one any better cowman or any more knowledgeable than someone that doesn't have a chute.

You do have a way to treat them though whether it is a gate to smash em in between or something? Thereby you have some sort of facilities.

And that is NOT what you said in your initial post. You implied that infrastructure = facilities = headgate. Wrong.

Of course I have facilities, TN... but I rarely need them. Gave my 8YO nurse cow a shot of Multimin the other day; haltered, tied her to the fence and gave the shot. As easy as treating a horse. Evidently aknack also has facilities since she has said they've given antibiotic and treated the cow. Or did you miss reading that?

 

[aknack]

We do have pasture to put her in but there are also the other cattle in that same place. It seems that
the other cattle seem to sense when one is sick or weak and they may tend to "bully" her and maybe
cause more problems. I am really not looking for an overnight cure, I know it will take a long time
for this to heal. I guess I'm a believer that I will try everything I can before putting an animal down
and especially since this calf is maybe close to three weeks old. I have bottle feed babies before,
I just want to help this cow if I can. Thank you.

 

[milkmaid]

If there's grass on the pasture and you're not feeding hay (where she has to compete for food) it probably won't be a big deal to put her out with the others.

Is her leg bandaged all the time?
any reason she can't be taken to the vet if they won't come to your place?

Getting your vet's opinion would be the best move... when someone can actually see and put their hands on the animal, they can give much better advice than any of us who are only making suggestions based on the description and information you give us.

 

[jasrnch]

Heck the last time I checked a lariat and saddle horse qualifies as good facilities. Not always the best, but sometimes it's all you have. I Don't know what some of you would do on 20,000 acres of open range.

 

[ALX.]

Obviously I did miss read that. Simmer down. Is it that time of the month?

Ahh crap, beer on the monitor screen again!

:lol: :lol: