Swollen Behind The Ears

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TxCoUnTrYbOy

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My heifer now has like these big swollen lumps behind her ears. They feel hard, and have swelled up a lot. I dont know if something bit her, or what happened. What should I do to treat this?
 
Its behind both ears. On one ear its gone down since the other day, but there are what looks like a bunch of little scars and cuts on it. On here other ear in the same spot its swelled up and rock hard.
 
TxCoUnTrYbOy":5hofxaua said:
Its behind both ears. On one ear its gone down since the other day, but there are what looks like a bunch of little scars and cuts on it. On here other ear in the same spot its swelled up and rock hard.

It sounds like she may have stuck her head through something and couldn't get it back out easily - especially since they are/were behind both ears. As long as the bumps aren't squishy, I would just watch her for a possible abcess. They will probably go away in due time with no treatment.
 
TxCoUnTrYbOy":16p4h4wp said:
Thanks for the info.

So if it turns squishy then I need to treat it? What would I treat it with?

If it turns squishy, you're probably looking at an abcess and it would need to be investigated, probably lanced, and systemic antibiotics administered, along with regular flushing of the abcess site until it heals up.
 
Agree with Msscamp...as usual...most likely just a bump.
If you want to put your mind at ease...take a large bore needle
(16ga) and lance the bump and see what you get...you'll know right off if you have an abcess. Pussy=abcess...blood or nothing, it will probably go away by itself.
Just my two bits worth DMc
 
Is she a show heifer? If so it is possible that it is just her halter rubbing. She could have gotten it stuck on some thing, that happened one time to a steer I had. I'd turned him out to graze in a small lot and he got the end of the lead hung in the roots of a tree.
 
Ive solved the mystery. Its the donkeys doing. I dont know if its just because the donkey is the new guy in the herd, and the cattle keep trying to run him away when he gets too close, but when they do that the donkey sometimes will jump up and kick. I noticed because the other cattle have little cuts and scrapes in the shape of the donkeys hoof. The donkey is a 6 yr old jack. Is this normal, and will he break this habit once they all get more used to each other? He has been in the pasture with them for 2 weeks and all the cattle have been out there for a few months together. Anything I can do to get him to stop kicking at them?
 
Tod Dague":2bsz9op2 said:
dun":2bsz9op2 said:
TxCoUnTrYbOy":2bsz9op2 said:
Anything I can do to get him to stop kicking at them?

A good pit cooked barbque will solve the problem.

dun
Wonder if they're as good as horse. ;-)

When they're cooked in the gorund you can;t tell the difference

dun
 
TxCoUnTrYbOy":llslhmlu said:
Ive solved the mystery. Its the donkeys doing. I dont know if its just because the donkey is the new guy in the herd, and the cattle keep trying to run him away when he gets too close, but when they do that the donkey sometimes will jump up and kick. I noticed because the other cattle have little cuts and scrapes in the shape of the donkeys hoof. The donkey is a 6 yr old jack. Is this normal, and will he break this habit once they all get more used to each other? He has been in the pasture with them for 2 weeks and all the cattle have been out there for a few months together. Anything I can do to get him to stop kicking at them?

Donkeys and cattle don't always mix well, especially an intact jack. In this case, it sounds like the donkey's defending himself and I doubt he'll stop kicking. He'd be better off apart from the cattle, with another donkey for company. If he's not used for breeding, have a vet castrate him. If you have him to "protect" your cattle, here is some info on guardian donkeys:

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department ... /agdex9396

http://www.usipp.com/gatefarm/the_donkey_guardian.htm
 
Don't worry, I am not offended by the donkey roasting jokes...but I continue to be surprised that people will turn out an animal with a group of other animals without trying to learn what might happen and how they'd interact beforehand. I doubt any cattle person would put a giraffe or an emu in with his/her cows. It just doesn't make sense to me!
 
Gale Seddon":1z16tgvu said:
Don't worry, I am not offended by the donkey roasting jokes...but I continue to be surprised that people will turn out an animal with a group of other animals without trying to learn what might happen and how they'd interact beforehand. I doubt any cattle person would put a giraffe or an emu in with his/her cows. It just doesn't make sense to me!

Interesting you should mention emus. A number of years ago, people around here were just hauling them to a vacant piece of land and turning them lose. I weant to one of our pac pastures, about 60 acres broke into 3 areas by hot wire. All of the hot wire was broken and 5 strand barb was busted through in a couple of spots. The cows were all wildeyed and lathered up. I couldn;t figure out what was going on until an emu trotted over the ridge, just barely within view of the cows. They all took off in terror again. I shot the emu and drug it off, the cows settled right down and I fixed fence, lots of fence. Some friends of ours about 60 miles away had the same problem and reaction with there cows only there it was 150 head running on 400 plus acres. Apparantly there is something about the way an emu moves that just spooks the snot out of cows. We've had a stray donk and llama get in with the cows and never had the same reaction.

dun
 
Gale Seddon":2o8m2mkr said:
Don't worry, I am not offended by the donkey roasting jokes...but I continue to be surprised that people will turn out an animal with a group of other animals without trying to learn what might happen and how they'd interact beforehand. I doubt any cattle person would put a giraffe or an emu in with his/her cows. It just doesn't make sense to me!

There is a guy east of Morrill, Ne that runs just about everything together - ostriches, cattle, minature donkeys, zebras, camels, I think I've seen llamas in there, but that could be another place, I've lost track of all the animals I've seen in his pasture.
 
TCB.. get rid of the jack! It's not worth him seriously hurting one of your cows, and he can do it. Jacks are more aggressive than a gelding or a jenny, and if he's already kicking and biting, you're not going to get him to quit.
 

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