Tail Doesn't Work

[TheBullLady]

Honestly.. just when you think you've "seen it all" in the cattle business!

Has anyone had any experience with a tail that seems to be almost paralyzed? My bull for the past couple of months has had a lot of manure under his tail and down his butt. I have noticed it and blamed it on being "lose" from the new green grass.

After thinking about it, I went out and checked him this afternoon, and sure enough, he can't lift his tail! He can move it back and forth from about half way down. but he can't lift away from his body at the tail head.

No injuries or bumps, abrasions, kinks anywhere in the tail.

Would it warrant a trip to the vets? I'm thinking about hauling him to A & M just to see what it is! I hate when I come across stuff that doesn't have an obvious answer!

Anyone come across something like this before? :roll:

 

[CKC1586]

May want to look for a tick?

 

[Caustic Burno]

Tick my ass, I got an 2 yr old Angus crossbred heifer with the same problem for months and now it works. Stumped the heck out of me.

 

[dun]

After thinking about it, I went out and checked him this afternoon, and sure enough, he can't lift his tail! He can move it back and forth from about half way down. but he can't lift away from his body at the tail head.

Is it a case of can;t or won't. I've seen lazy crappers that just don;t bother moving their tails, but come heel fly season they can sure raise it just fine.

dun

 

[Beefy]

i doubt its a tick although i had a chocolate lab that one day just suddenly became paralyzed. just collapsed walking over to me. couldnt figure out what on earth happened to him. after giving him a thorough check over we removed a HUGE tick from around his spine and he was able to walk again. asked our vet about and he said that wasnt all that uncommon of an occurence. thats my random story for the night.

as far are the bull and cows go, i call those "spreaders". sometimes its due to their build, sometimes condition has a lot to do with it. they always have a messy tail from the tail spreading the krap around. from a reproductive standpoint, and this goes for mares as well as cows, you want good "vaginal and vulval integrity". i didnt make that up, thats what the reproductive physiologist calls it. meaning you dont want the vulva situated so that the krap falls out onto it and jsut kind of lingers on its way down, you want it to fall right on out. especially with horses the vulva tends to kind of sink in as mares age creating a little "slippery slope" if you will for the krap to sort of "hang out" on as it meanders on its merry way. sometimes you will see poor conditioned cows with a sunken in anus and krap just kind of sits there in a little pocket. not cool. your bull is probably just a lazy ass as dun suggested.

 

[Caustic Burno]

After thinking about it, I went out and checked him this afternoon, and sure enough, he can't lift his tail! He can move it back and forth from about half way down. but he can't lift away from his body at the tail head.

Is it a case of can;t or won't. I've seen lazy crappers that just don;t bother moving their tails, but come heel fly season they can sure raise it just fine.

dun

Dun I penned this crazy heifer 3 times looked over every inch of her ass and tail, no injuries, no marks of anykind just cow. Pick up her tail like picking up a wore out rope. She is OK now away just had never seen this one before.

 

[dun]

Dun I penned this crazy heifer 3 times looked over every inch of her ass and tail, no injuries, no marks of anykind just cow. Pick up her tail like picking up a wore out rope. She is OK now away just had never seen this one before.

I wasn't implying it couldn't happen, just have never seen it as a permanent or long term thing. Maybe we've had the same thing but I just layed it to them being lazy.

dun

 

[CKC1586]

i doubt its a tick although i had a chocolate lab that one day just suddenly became paralyzed. just collapsed walking over to me. couldnt figure out what on earth happened to him. after giving him a thorough check over we removed a HUGE tick from around his spine and he was able to walk again. asked our vet about and he said that wasnt all that uncommon of an occurence. thats my random story for the night.

Beefy, that was where I was going with my suggestion to check for a tick.... they are nasty little things.

 

[TheBullLady]

We rarely have ticks here.. no wooded areas.

dun.. that's what I thought for a month.. he was just a "lazy crapper". Then I got to looking closer and realized he can't lift it.

If I scratch about half way down the tail, he can swing it back and forth a minimal amount. But at the tail head when I scratch (which usually causes him to make faces and lift the tail up) .. nothing.

I'm calling the vet tomorrow. Of course I spent a lot of $$ on this bull, which means I hate for something to happen. And irregardless of that, I hate the thought of him suffering through summer and fly season without being able to "swat". I've been spraying him with fly repellent every day right now.

 

[Campground Cattle]

Let us know what you find out never had this problem, should be an interesting post.

 

[dun]

I frequently hear about not having ticks because of the lack of woods/timber. Doesn;t work like that any of the places I've been. The worst place for ticks I've ever seen is along the Owens River running through the middle of the desert with just grass and scrub brush scattered along wit hthe sand.
Our cows are fenced off from the woods and have a good number of ticks till we pour them in the spring, then by fall they have them again. Rubs help, but the underbody and bucnghole areas seem to alwasy have a few except in the winter.

dun

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have seen this happen. Sometimes when a cow or bull is mounted, the tail gets in the way & breaks or gets a nerve pinched. Always seems to get over it.
Yes, I know bulls are not supposed to be on the bottom - but cows in heat will mount the bull - or try anyway.

 

[riverdance]

At least your cows have a tail....one of mine were born without a tail but I didnt put her down, vet said she was fine..and so for the last 6 years she has had beautiful calves all with tails. Makes it easier to see ticks too...I just keep her sprayed and vaccinated. Her name is Beauty even though she might not be...

 

[MY]

I frequently hear about not having ticks because of the lack of woods/timber. Doesn;t work like that any of the places I've been. The worst place for ticks I've ever seen is along the Owens River running through the middle of the desert with just grass and scrub brush scattered along wit hthe sand.
Our cows are fenced off from the woods and have a good number of ticks till we pour them in the spring, then by fall they have them again. Rubs help, but the underbody and bucnghole areas seem to alwasy have a few except in the winter.

dun

Ditto! It's the tall grasses around here that are loaded with ticks, not the woods.

 

[Tod Dague]

We don't have the ticks around here like we used to. Seems they are easy targets for the fire ants.