lumpy jaw

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dansangus

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I have a cow that was treated for lumpy jaw last winter.Vet confirmed diagnosis. She calved this spring and is raising a healthy calf.My question is,although she has the bone infection,she has not lost weight and seems to be doing well. I would like to breed her again since the infection seems to be stable. Is this something that will eventually cause her to lose weight and not carry a healthy calf.Could I give her injections of antibiotics every few months to keep the lumpy jaw stable? Would appreciate your input,thanks Dan
 
Honestly, if the vet confirmed lumpy jaw, I would get this calf grown out enough and then ship her before it hits a growth spurt and the cow is unsaleable. They are getting tighter at the sale barns about buying those animals for slaughter and it could mean that you will "give her away" for a few cents. There is no way to determine what will cause it to flare up again, and it can get bad quick. Antibiotics may/may not help but if it was curable, don't you think the vet would have prescribed a course to do, so she can be cured. Consider yourself lucky that you got a healthy calf, that she is holding her own with the problem. If it flares up again, it might not take but a few weeks for her to go downhill fast. Take her salvage value and put it towards another animal.
 
You state that the vet confirmed the diagnosis but did your vet treat it? And provide a prognosis/opinion? Curious because my girl was treated by our vet for lumpy jaw with sodium iodide in 2011; had a calf on her and was bred but did not abort. Vet saw no reason to cull her - and he's very candid about culling. She's now 10 and we haven't had a problem since and we did not continue with additional antibiotics. The pic shows the side that had the lumpy jaw (and sorry, it's not a great pic).

I agree that sale barns and buyers are a lot more selective; if she still has obvious swelling/drooling, etc she may not sell even as a canner/cutter.
 
We had a rash of soft lump jaw for a couple years. No big deal I learned.
I've had one with a boney lump. I held her why she raised her calf. The lump was quite stable and I had the idea your having. The it literally exploded in a very short time. Became a grapefruit sized abscess and the cow out of her mind and very aggressive.
I suspect I coulda got 30cents for her. But I was ashamed to take her. And administered one highgrit instead.
Sell her.
 
farmerjan":19hrlhu9 said:
Honestly, if the vet confirmed lumpy jaw, I would get this calf grown out enough and then ship her before it hits a growth spurt and the cow is unsaleable. They are getting tighter at the sale barns about buying those animals for slaughter and it could mean that you will "give her away" for a few cents. There is no way to determine what will cause it to flare up again, and it can get bad quick. Antibiotics may/may not help but if it was curable, don't you think the vet would have prescribed a course to do, so she can be cured. Consider yourself lucky that you got a healthy calf, that she is holding her own with the problem. If it flares up again, it might not take but a few weeks for her to go downhill fast. Take her salvage value and put it towards another animal.

X2

I second this option, why take the chance.
 
callmefence":yyoecpdh said:
We had a rash of soft lump jaw for a couple years. No big deal I learned.
I've had one with a boney lump. I held her why she raised her calf. The lump was quite stable and I had the idea your having. The it literally exploded in a very short time. Became a grapefruit sized abscess and the cow out of her mind and very aggressive.
I suspect I coulda got 30cents for her. But I was ashamed to take her. And administered one highgrit instead.
Sell her.
We've fortunately only had the one case so I suspect it was soft. Didn't know there was bony. Thanks for the info.

BTW I love your analogy :)
 
I Will cull this cow in the fall. My next question is-the locker plant that does my processing says they butcher lumpy jaw cattle quite often.My wife on the other hand thinks that a animal with a bacterial infection should not be processed. I was going to make the cow into burger. Any thoughts ? Thanks Dan
 

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