Broken or dislocated shoulder on bred heifer

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JTM

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I have a bred heifer that was injured when the snow came off the roof of my barn and spooked the cows. Unfortunately, this happened last year and had to put down another one. Anyway, that's another topic.

Has anyone had this happen and is there any hope that she will get better? She can get up and limp around, putting little to no weight on her front right. If she does put weight on it, it has to be placed out in front of her a bit. She has a bump on her shoulder blade and the leg is held towards the inside and forward when she is standing. She can move it but something isn't right. Ever heard of a livestock chiropractor fixing something like this?
 

ALTSIMMY 79

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Its hard to say for sure on something like that . My old draft pick cow went down on the ice early this winter , she acted kinda like the description of yours . I'm gonna say it took two weeks but she came out of it on her own . Hopefully you will get lucky too .
 

ALTSIMMY 79

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I'm gonna change my answer a little after re reading your post . Exact same symptom , hard to believe maybe , but true . Mine held the right front in and way ahead . She acted like it killed her to move around on it . I can't believe it myself but today moves like a teenager. I still scratch my head . Thought for sure she was done .
 
J

JTM

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Well that gives me a little bit of hope at least. Today she showed a little bit of progress I think. Hopefully it will continue.
 

ALTSIMMY 79

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Well that's good news , hopefully it continues .  I drove right up to the vet when I found mine and he convinced me to just give her time , pretty nerve wrecking ordeal . Curious to hear how things turn out .
 

coachmac

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I assume you do but....do you have her isolated away from the others with restricted movement? 
 
J

JTM

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coachmac said:
I assume you do but....do you have her isolated away from the others with restricted movement?   
Yes, but I didn't get her isolated until about a week after the incident. She has been separated in an 8x12 pen for about four days now and I actually seen her put a lot of weight on the right leg today! Having her separated and restricted has helped a lot. Thanks for making sure on that.
 

klintdog

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Funny story - we actually sold a heifer at Agribition in Canada this fall. New owner wanted her to go to Denver. We bring her home and a week later she spooks on the ice and screws up her front shoulder. She made it nearly 3 weeks of progressively getting worse until we were nearly ready to put her down. Vet wanted to try one last thing. She said that if the heifer was laying around quite a bit it was actually causing the condition to worsen rather then improve because the leg would go numb. We cut back on her bedding and moved it further from her water and feed. Week later you would never tell it was the same animal. Actually kicked her out with the rest of the replacement heifers yesterday and she bucked and kicked like a champ!
 
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