Galefarms63014
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- Oct 25, 2013
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I recently got a call from another local farmer about taking on a project calf from him. I agreed and it is quite the project. I have this 5 week old heifer calf that got herself hung up in a fence and must have then flipped around until she was hanging from her left front leg. She did a lot of damage to her leg. The farmer said that initially there was a hole about the size of his thumb to her bone. He had the vet out and they gave her antibiotics and began daily wound care. The skin and tissues just kept dying, she now has a whole in the front of her leg that is as big as my fist to the bone. They were cleaning it with water and iodine and doing daily packing with gauze. I brought her home on Tuesday, she takes a bottle well, seems to be getting more energy daily and does not seem to be in any pain at all. The sore looks as healthy as a sore that size can look. No signs of infection or anything. The major problem that I am seeing is.. because of her injuries at the top of her leg, she can't straighten her leg enough that her hoof can be on the ground at all. She walks on three legs for now, but I am wondering if there is a good way to stretch that hoof back out so that someday she might be able to walk. Her bone is not broken at all but because of the injury her hoof is bent in to the point that if she did try putting weight on it, she'd be walking on the first bend in her leg. I have had some tell me I should splint that with pvc pipe and try to straighten her leg. Has anyone ever had a problem like this and will splinting her leg help to straighten it to the point that she can use her hooves again? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for you help ~Wendi
