Need opinions on what happened

[Black and Good]

A week ago I bought three black bred cows at the local sale barn,I knew the guy that owned them. Reputation cattle. Well two were 5 yr old one is 7 yr old cow,almost a week after the sale I go out check on them. The older one, right in front of her left shoulder looks like if you cut a basketball in two and stuck it under her hide?? She kinda walking gingerly but she eats and stays with the herd? My guess is something happened to her at the sale,just bad bruse? What do you all think,how should I treat her, should I try and lance it to drain,should I contact the sale barn bout possible insurance claim?? I would like some input on what you all think.

 

[dun]

Given the time frame I would think that whatevver she did happened after you got her home.

 

[pdfangus]

still baffles me why people go to the sale barn to buy cattle from people they know....why not go to them directly and buy the cattle without the trip thru disease central.....

 

[Black and Good]

still baffles me why people go to the sale barn to buy cattle from people they know....why not go to them directly and buy the cattle without the trip thru disease central.....

Simple,I did't know he was selling anything till I took in my weaning calves.

 

[Limomike]

sale barn is going to tell you its too late. get a vet to check her out.

 

[chippie]

It sounds like a hematoma. Another cow may have butted her pretty hard on the shoulder to cause the bruise. She should absorb it.

 

[pdfangus]

snake bite?

had a horse with a snake bite once on the chest and it swole up like a basketball and abcessed. vet lanced it and diagnosed snake bite as his best guess....copperheads are our main venomous snake. don't know how it got her on the chest. must have been lying down.

 

[pdfangus]

i was a registered breeder for over thirty years...
i think I had a pretty good reputation....ya seldom know about your own...but I had repeat customers and now have old customers asking me where to buy....
I sold cattle off the farm....
I sold cattle to the stockyard....
but they were not the same cattle....
registered breeders have culls too...or at least they should...
I did not sell my culls to my customers because the culls had a problem that I did not want to bother my customers with either.

 

[Galloways1]

It sounds like a hematoma. Another cow may have butted her pretty hard on the shoulder to cause the bruise. She should absorb it.

sounds exactly what it is. Did they get run through a self catching head gate?

 

[Black and Good]

It sounds like a hematoma. Another cow may have butted her pretty hard on the shoulder to cause the bruise. She should absorb it.

sounds exactly what it is. Did they get run through a self catching head gate?

Yes,she would have been put in a squeeze chute to get aged and preg. checked. I've never seen anything like this but, I hope you guys are on the right track.
Should I give her LA-200 or just wait and see if it goes down on it's own. Thanks for the help. :tiphat:

 

[milkmaid]

I'd leave it alone. If you vaccinated her there? it's likely a vaccine-induced swelling and will disappear with time (usually). If a hematoma, it's sterile at the moment, no need for antibiotics -edit- unless it shows signs of being infected (increases in size, doesn't regress, starts to drain in its own, etc) or you make the mistake of trying to open it. Don't lance it etc, it will go down (last football sized hematoma I saw took about 4-5 weeks) but just needs time. The only difference between a hematoma and an abscess is a needle....

There may be some transient nerve damage to the shoulder or simple bruising of muscle, unless she goes off feed I'd just keep an eye on it and expect she'll walk better in a week or so and the lump will regress in a month or two.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

does it look like this?

This is a cow we bought from a dispersal sale, on-line, and she came out of NE OK. We picked her up the weekend following the sale, and she loaded from a dark, covered crowding pen right into our trailer, in the dark, so I did not see her until we unloaded her at home in SW MO. Both shoulders were swollen, but this side was worse. We waited about 2 weeks, the smaller side went down but this side did not. So we took her to the vet. He drained at least a gallon of white chunky puss, that smelled retched! He left the drain open at the bottom, and it drained for two weeks! You could smell her before you saw her! But it healed after that. I know it would not have healed on it's own, and needed intervention. Vet said the swelling was caused from hitting the head chute to hard. We bought the pair for $1200, and when I weaned the heifer calf off her we sold the cow for $1350 (bred 3 months to our Simm bull), so we did pretty good. Getting ready to bred her heifer calf this fall (she is a Pioneer, the dam pictured was a TC Freedom).

 

[ousoonerfan22]

Back in the spring I had a cow go down in the squeeze shoot and a day or two later she had exactly what you described on your cow.After a shot of LA300 she was still swelled up and we tried to drain it but only got blood so I took her to the vet.He could only draw blood so he gave her a shot of exede(she was pregnant) and told me to bring her back in a week or two.The swelling didn't go down so the next time at the vet he lanced it and you should have seen the junk that came out of there,she got a tetanus shot this time.Now I'm thinking about taking her back because where the vet lanced her has healed up except for a small hole that is still oozing a thick yellow liquid.

This cow looked exactly like the picture above!

 

[Black and Good]

does it look like this?

This is a cow we bought from a dispersal sale, on-line, and she came out of NE OK. We picked her up the weekend following the sale, and she loaded from a dark, covered crowding pen right into our trailer, in the dark, so I did not see her until we unloaded her at home in SW MO. Both shoulders were swollen, but this side was worse. We waited about 2 weeks, the smaller side went down but this side did not. So we took her to the vet. He drained at least a gallon of white chunky puss, that smelled retched! He left the drain open at the bottom, and it drained for two weeks! You could smell her before you saw her! But it healed after that. I know it would not have healed on it's own, and needed intervention. Vet said the swelling was caused from hitting the head chute to hard. We bought the pair for $1200, and when I weaned the heifer calf off her we sold the cow for $1350 (bred 3 months to our Simm bull), so we did pretty good. Getting ready to bred her heifer calf this fall (she is a Pioneer, the dam pictured was a TC Freedom).

That is exactly what it looks like,that picture really helps. Thanks Sweep for digging that up. Thanks to all for all the help. This makes me feel alot better. I was afriad I was going blind and bought her that way. But,that sale barn is pretty darn good bout pointing stuff out. BTW I called them and they if she does'nt get over it they would work with me. So, all this swelling must of took a few days to show. Also,Sweep nice pair,except for lump. LOL Thanks agian for all the help.

 

[Black and Good]

FYI,update on the cow the OP was about,She is doing alot better without any treatment. She's walking fine pushing for food and everything. I'd say the swelling is 1/2 the size it was maybe smaller,so as someone posted looks like she'll absorb it in time. Thanks and again for all the help and input. B&G :tiphat:

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Thanks for the update. I was wondering how it turned out for you. Glad you did not need a vet!