Need some advice

[Grandpa]

Ignorant as I am, I need all the good advice and/or suggestions I can get. Have a 8-9 year old angus/brangus mix cow that I bought almost 3 years ago. She has given me two good calves, the last one being a real big one. She got down about 3 days before she calved and I couldn't get her up at all, even though she has always shied away from me. She made it up later and moved to a different area and had the calf and seemed to be ok but moved slower than before. That was 7 months ago, and I got the calf off her about 2 weeks ago. Since then, I have noticed she is really poor, always the last one to come to feed, when I put out a bale of hay she will stand by until all the others have eaten, and she has a limp. It is not really noticeable when she is walking forward; she's just slow. But when she turns or pivots, she really doesn't want to put any weight on that left hind foot. I am wondering if she dislocated that hip or pinched a nerve from the delivery, but I also wonder if she just hurt that foot somehow. I have pictures below. The pic doesn't show how poor and bony she really is, and she should be 5-6 months bred, but she doesn't look it The inside toe on that left foot looks a little funny to me, but I don't know and there is no swelling and no fever.

My thought is that when the calves are weaned and turned back into the herd, to pen her up with the steer I am raising to butcher and give her stock fattener to put some meat on her bones, then load her on a trailer. I like her because she throws good calves, but I also don't want a problem child next calving season. Is it worth the price of a vet or just ship her? Thanks for any advice.

 

[Anonymous]

Her hooves need trimmed to start with. That alone may be enough to cause what you're seeing.

 

[tsmaxx47]

i don't know how much money you want to spend, but if she's worth the price of a calf, call the vet. it could be a pinched nerve that some muscle relaxers might fix, but after the length of time you're talking about, i'd be inclined to ship her. i agree, she doesen't look five or six months along.........

 

[cow pollinater]

Ship her. If she is bred there's no way she's got enough going for her to raise a good calf this time around. All you'd do with a vet bill is add cost to a cow that is already not going to be profitable.

 

[Isomade]

Put her in the squeeze and put a rope around that foot. Wrap the rope around a bar to your alley high up. Pull till the foot is extended back away from the cow and about a foot off the ground. then tie the rope off. Trim that hoof and clean it out with iodine. Give her a shot of LA. If she is not better in two weeks shio her while she can still walk. You can't tell if a cow is 4-5 months bred by her condition.

 

[ohiobeef]

In the close up of the foot to me, it looks a little swollen.Possible foot rot ? I think she may also have some other issue if she is that thin & bony. You just have to decide if the vet bill is worth it to find out. :tiphat:

 

[Grandpa]

Thanks, guys. I am in agreement with all of what you say. I will take a look at that foot and see if there is any help for it, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to ship her. If the foot was the only issue, it would definitely be worth a vet bill, but her condition and demeanor tip the scales for me pretty much. Hate to lose a cow that has made such good calves, but I don't need the headaches either. I can see myself losing her and a calf next spring, and I kept an extra replacement heifer this year anyway. Thanks again. You guys make this board a great resource.

 

[JSCATTLE]

Looks to me like she has a long toe also . That can make them walk funny . As far as being poor it looks like you left the calf on her to long . Cows don't lose that much weight in 2 weeks . I'd start feeding her now and trim that toe . Fatten her and ship her . Just my 2 cents take it for what it's worth .

 

[Grandpa]

Looks to me like she has a long toe also . That can make them walk funny . As far as being poor it looks like you left the calf on her to long . Cows don't lose that much weight in 2 weeks . I'd start feeding her now and trim that toe . Fatten her and ship her . Just my 2 cents take it for what it's worth .

It's worth a lot, JS, and thanks. I plan to do all three, unless she winds up worth keeping. I don't have a squeeze chute, but I do have a head gate to put on a solid loading chute, so will have to make that work. I'm sure I did leave that calf on her too long, but the other cows are not in that poor shape; they all calved within a 3 week period and I pulled them off at the same time. It was a later than usual calf crop, and I always sold them younger and when I still had lots of grass. My fault for not figuring it out earlier. I kept these calves as replacements and just didn't wean them soon enough.

 

[JSCATTLE]

I have a few that pull down . I watch them and pull the calf a little earlier than the rest . I've been selling one or two a year and replacing them. Sometimes the cow puts more into her calf than she does her self . I'm in the process of weeding out the poor doers but it takes time .

 

[jerry27150]

if you give la, you have to keep her a month

 

[Grandpa]

Thanks for the info. I think she has to go, no matter what, but I'll do my best to help her.

 

[glacierridge]

Put her in the squeeze and put a rope around that foot. Wrap the rope around a bar to your alley high up. Pull till the foot is extended back away from the cow and about a foot off the ground. then tie the rope off. Trim that hoof and clean it out with iodine. Give her a shot of LA. If she is not better in two weeks shio her while she can still walk. You can't tell if a cow is 4-5 months bred by her condition.

That's true, we've got one that you would think is open just by looking at her up until she bags up. She does a good job of hiding that calf somewhere...
And I think Iso has advice and I would probably do the same thing.

 

[glacierridge]

We had one older animal this summer whose back legs swelled up with the heat spell. The vet said too much walking to get to water in the heat is harder on older animals.
My dad said she should be shipped but we knew she was 1/2 through term.
We opted to bring her in the barn. My nephew and I treated her legs with liniment several days to get the swelling down. Just came fresh with a lovely heifer a couple weeks ago, her big full sister and her will be momma's replacement, the old girl will be shipped now that her mission is complete. Great momma cow but can't risk another season when there is no promise next year will be better for weather conditions and have two nice young-ins to rise in her stead.
Foot/leg problems are the worst and sometimes they make for hard decisions.