Young bull walking gingerly

[shadyhollownj]

Ok so we kept a bull calf for cleanup. He is 19 months old and cleaned up 9 cows this year. He walks very gingerly sometimes. Other times he goes to a new pasture and fights the cow and runs all over like nothings wrong. He looks like his joints hurt. His feet look ok legs are ok. I read that if they are on heavy grain they could get leg problems but he never was. He was in with replacement heifers getting like 6-8 lbs grain a day but nothing crazy. We vaccinate with triangle 9 and alpha 7 and worm twice a year. I dont think its hardware cause we actually had a case of that before. He has been like this on and off for a few months. One day he looks fine another he looks like he is 90. Any thoughts guys. Thanks.

 

[JHH]

had a horned herf bull once and he had what the vet called a corn grow in between his front hooves. Had to have it removed every year. Got rid of bull and never kept anything out of him. only used 2 yrs.

 

[inyati13]

I have an Angus bull that also has the corns or calluses between his toes. They are small or large growths from the tissue where the toes split at the top front of the foot. I orginally thought they were old scars from foot rot but my vet called them calluses. They can become irritated and the bull will walk easy or limp. I posted the pictures on here July or August, Dun identified them correctly when most thought it was foot rot. I like the gentle nature of my bull and he has hit every cow the first time so I am going to keep him until he don't work for me. But you may have something else. Foot Rot or maybe what they call fescue toe. Good luck.

 

[milkmaid]

All four legs? any indication of pneumonia in your herd (e.g. mycoplasma causes joint infections)? what's your mineral program like (e.g. selenium deficiency might be a rule-out in this case)?

Letting your vet look at him when the bull is having a bad day might get you some far better answers though....

 

[shadyhollownj]

We have never had pneumonia on the farm. As far as mineral we have salt blocks out and loose Purina mineral mixed with salt free choice. I was thing about giving him some BoSe to see if that would help. Also no corns or anything visible in his feet. Its definitely a joint issue I think.

 

[KNERSIE]

Those callusses can be caused by structural- or nutritional issues or even be the result of neglected footrot.

 

[inyati13]

KNERSIE, the bull I have is a registered angus and his papers say his ancestors carry Arthrogryposis Multiplex and Contractual Arachnodactyly both of which are foot issues. So I have wondered if his callusses are the result of one of these defects even though the vet said his feet are fine. It does not bother me since I sell feeder calves for slaughter and not breeding stock. The bull is walking fine and breeding the cows. I will only keep him for another year and he will probably go for slaughter.

 

[KNERSIE]

I don't know, but I doubt it.

 

[angus9259]

KNERSIE, the bull I have is a registered angus and his papers say his ancestors carry Arthrogryposis Multiplex and Contractual Arachnodactyly both of which are foot issues. So I have wondered if his callusses are the result of one of these defects even though the vet said his feet are fine. It does not bother me since I sell feeder calves for slaughter and not breeding stock. The bull is walking fine and breeding the cows. I will only keep him for another year and he will probably go for slaughter.

An AM affected calf is dead. A CA affected calf is likely to die, but if it makes it could be fine or sickly but not necessarily prickly. A carrier of any gene is not affected in any way.

Prickly feet in my pen is either related to feed being too hot (not in your case though) or spinal damage. In my case since I don't grain anymore, it's spinal damage related to mounting or being mounted. As mentioned in another post, I get it in the bull pen every couple of years from all the roughhousing.