calf with bad leg need help

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smo

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 6, 2011
Messages
201
i know this isnt gonna help much not having pictures but i have a calf that was born late and was very large. like 125 lbs large. every thing is good but one leg. bull was th and ph clean so its not that. his rear leg is very un stable and it pushes out right under the hock bad. the joint almost seems like there is nothing holding it together. It bows out a lot and he has trouble walking. there are no broken bones, got x rays the vet has no idea. he said let it go see what happens. has any one had this same problem?
im thinking leg was bent inside because he was so large and will straiten out?????????
anyoone have any ideas
 

BogartBlondes

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Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Messages
130
I've had a calf like this, I've figured that it's because ther is so much weight up top and not enough muscle below. The one I had lived but was never terribly sound on his feet and legs. I gave selenium, AD and New Cells it helped I think
 

obie105

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Joined
Oct 17, 2011
Messages
780
I had a calf just like this last year. Give a shot of Bo SE and leave it in the barn for a couple of weeks. That was the advice my vet gave me last year. Let the cow out but don't give it a ton of room to run. Ours was in a 10x20 pen. It could move and get strong but not over do it. After 2-3 weeks you could still notice but it wasn't near as bad so we kicked ours out. By 2 months you could barely notice and when we sold her as a replacement this fall you never would have known. She was sound as a cat. We chalked it up to a bigger calf that ran out of room and just laid funny.
 

sizzler14

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Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
868
had a calf like this last month except the stifle was all messed up on it. A woman I clip for is a small animal vet but of course knows large animals. we took the calf in and xrayed it. nothing broke so we gave it a shot of BoSE and she put a dog split on its rear leg. we wrapped it and let it on for a week. each day we went out twice a day held the calf on our knees and let it nurse the cow and then between nursing we would give it a bottle ( monopoly heifer. No Freakin Milk!!). Anyhow at the end of the week she was getting up and learned to walk. now she runs around the calving pen 100 mph. she does have a messed up stifle so she will never show but she will get big enough to beef so we can make some money on her! If I was you I would try the same thing. Your calf might actually snap out of it and be sound! least this way you can at least get some money out of the calf by beefing it so it isn't a complete loss. Like I said your calf might recover 100% doing it this way. the split just gives it extra support and lets everything grow and heal together if something is wrong that the xray isn't showing
 

chambero

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Joined
Feb 12, 2007
Messages
3,207
Location
Texas
Ligaments are stretched out from leg being folded up funny in wound.  Had one this year that got better after about a month.  We didn't do anything to him
 
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