I've been worried about this girl, have been watching her a few weeks. Started out as significant swelling on the right side of her face - you can see in the pic, something's just not right. It was hard, didn't feel like an abscess, no movement and she wasn't having any problem eating/drinking, didn't feel hot, didn't see any puncture wounds. About a week later the swelling went down a bit but then she had a "blob" near her jawbone that was mushy, moved around, about the size of a golf ball. Few days later the "blob" was larger & more under her jaw. She looked very similar to the pic milkmaid posted of early lump jaw (in pics of cattle problems). Finally was able to take her in and after a very thorough exam the vet said it looked like nothing more than an injury, most likely from fighting, and her face was bruised. The swelling/blob is edema draining and will probably get larger before it simply heals & goes away. I've had a cow with lump jaw before and she healed perfectly, is now almost 12 but what a huge relief!
