Large lump on cows neck.

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Joined
May 2, 2012
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12
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I ran cows through the self catch chute and put ciders in. Six days later i noticed a very large lump on the side of the cows neck (size of a volleyball almost now). I had heard of cattle haiving allergic reactions to medicines so I called my vet. He came out drained some fluid to look at it and said it was caused from hitting the slef catch head gate to hard. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever had anything like this happen? Thanks
 

Mueller Show Cattle

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Oct 26, 2010
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Glenrock, Wyoming
Had a bull 2 years ago the had a lump about that big on his neck that the vet said he figured it got a splinter or small piece of wood in his neck from rubbing it. It festered up and the vet had to lance it open to drain it and then squirted iodine in it and stitched it back up. Don't know it it could be the same or not if she got something in her neck or what.
 

chambero

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Feb 12, 2007
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Texas
Yep, a knot like that is filled with blood.  Just leave it alone and it will go away.  Had a heifer at a sale do it once.  Had to bring her home - she's still in the herd years later.
 

HAB

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North Dakota
We had one of our yearling heifers hit the self catch hard when we put CIDRS in.  She swelled up and barely used her shoulder a few days.  Cycled just fine.
 

nmcattle

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Feb 2, 2010
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It has happened to me. The worst case was a recip a couple years ago that was quite flighty. She hit the headgate hard and I noticed the lump on her neck almost immediately as she exited the chute. She was dead the next day. I have had a couple others that swelled a little but nothing like that recip. She certainly did more damage to herself than I realized at the time.
 

firesweepranch

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SW MO
We bought an Angus cow and calf through a dispersal sale last year. When we went to pick her up she had a HUGE swelling on both the front left and right shoulders. We left it for about a month, one side went down the other did not. We took her to the vet and had it drained. I bet we got at least a gallon of white chunky puss out of it. Our vet told us it was from hitting the head catch too hard. It took several weeks to clear up, but she was fine. I would just watch it to see if it goes down, and if not you might have to drain it. Here is a pic of it.
 

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wyatt

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michigan
we had a calf that had a huge lump on its neck right when it was born we believe it was born breach and got squeezed around the neck or the umbilical cord choked him. also think it was breach because hes mentally retarded from a lack of oxygen or something and now its a week old and just learning to walk correctly the first 3 days we had to help it get up and nurse  :-\
 

Bulldaddy

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Valley Mills, Texas
Usuallly those kind of lumps are abcesses but that one is bigger than most I have dealt with.  If it is an abcess, you can stick a 1 1/2 inch, 18 gauge needle in the middle and if pus comes out then it needs to be cut open and drained.  If you get blood or nothing its best to leave it alone like Chambero says.
 
Joined
May 2, 2012
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12
Thanks for all of the info. I had a couple other guys look at it and they said the same thing. Its just fluid and swelling from hitting the gate too hard. Just let it alone and it will go away. Thanks for all the comments though! The cow pictured is close to what mine looks like also.
 
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