parrot/monkey mouth?

[Anonymous]

I had a calf born about 3 weeks ago that has a strange mouth. Her bottom lip/teeth are out farther than her top. sometimes you look at her and she looks normal and other times she looks strange. Sometimes she lets her tongue hang out the side. She also has a long face if you look at her from the front. Her mother has never had a calf like this before, and besides the mouth the calf is beautiful. Is this parrot or monkey mouth or something else? Where can I find pictures of calves with parrot or monkey mouth to compare it to? Thanks for any advice.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a heifer like that. We didn't find it until she was six months old. I can spend more time watching the animals that my dad could, so I just kept her, watching to see how she was affected by this malady. Her input and output was good, she drank water fine, she chewed her cud, and I could take the time to pull apart her feed. Finally, I had the vet in to see just exactly what he could tell me about her jaw. The teeth just almost straight down, and unless you get down and look specifically at that lower jaw, you can't notice a thing wrong with her. We thought maybe her mom had kicked her, or she had gotten stepped on. The vet said that she had been born with her lower jaw upside down. He said her mom must have been a fantastically patient cow, because this calf probably took a long time to nurse. of course, she will never leave our place alive, and she is just over two years old now. The vet said that since she was born this way, the likelihood of her ever fighting gum infections were almost nil, and he has been correct so far. She grazes fine. She would have been calving this year, since the vet was pretty sure it was just an accident of birth NOT an inherited trait, but to our dismay, we found that she had been bred at six months. Her calf died, but if we had taken it a bit sooner, it would have been a perfectly formed, healthy calf. Hope this helps a bit.

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[Anonymous]

Hello,

This is just the genetic luck of the draw, she may be able to breed and all that, but generally cattle like that are sent to the feed yard, they eat fine and gain well, but why add them to genetic pool when they already have a strike against them.

When I was a 4-Her there were lots of kids showing calves as steers like this, the rest of their body looks great, and you don't eat their Jaws.

Good Luck with her, Michelle

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