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Calf ?

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tenbach79

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Had a calf last night that can't bend his front legs straight and is bow legged. Talked to a vet today that said you could give him 10cc of LA200 through a IV to losen his tendons, but from what he said dont count on that working. My question for everyone is, has anyone had this, and what could have caused it and what did you do to help if anything? The vet was trying to tell me what could have caused it but dang cell phone lost its signal. :roll:
 
I have always known it to be a vitamin deficiency. Can't remember which one though. Lisa is saying Vit E and I was thinking B. I've also seen it in extremely cold weather, when cows aren't drinking enough.
 
Sounds like it could be white muscle disease which is a Vitamin E/Selenium deficiency, like LazyWP said. Give him a good dose of Bo-SE selenium/Vitamin E solution (Mu-SE will work if you don't have Bo-SE) and see what happens.
 
Crooked legs in foals is a phos deficiency around here. Got one, Didn't get him over it much. Young filly who accidentally got bred. Cute little guy but am afraid he will only be good for children and that ain't all bad.
 
If they are bowed out in front, it could be from the cow eating lupine
at the wrong time of gestation. Does the calf have a cleft pallate as well?
Do you have lupine in your pastures?

If the calf has no cleft pallate, I'd sure be for giving him BO-SE as
recommended by WV Genetics.

Are your cows on a good mineral program? That can prevent some of
these things.

Good luck!
 
The calf is completly normal other than his front legs. No we do not have lupine in our pastures. They are on a good mineral program, but we did go through a stretch that I was not doing a good job of putting out mineral when they needed it. Talked to a guy this afternoon that said he had the same thing and taped some wooden stakes to the calf's legs and it helped straighten them out but never walked normal. I just want him to stand on his own Right now he tries to stand but not long enough to suck. But he sucks good when I get him up with my knee under him. Its just getting old after one night plus killing my back and knees. Had such good luck the last couple years I guees it's pay back.[/img]
 
tenbach79 said:
The calf is completly normal other than his front legs. No we do not have lupine in our pastures. They are on a good mineral program, but we did go through a stretch that I was not doing a good job of putting out mineral when they needed it. Talked to a guy this afternoon that said he had the same thing and taped some wooden stakes to the calf's legs and it helped straighten them out but never walked normal. I just want him to stand on his own Right now he tries to stand but not long enough to suck. But he sucks good when I get him up with my knee under him. Its just getting old after one night plus killing my back and knees. Had such good luck the last couple years I guees it's pay back.[/img]
Click to expand...

I'd sure try the BO-SE. Kinda sounds like that could be what is wrong.
If so, it's easily taken care of with the shot. Again, Good Luck!
 
We get one or two a yr that kinda walks on his ankles---I usually just kinda splint them kinda straight with couple layers of pine shingles in the front, use freezer or masking tape, not too tight. They'll fall off in about 3 days, he's usually good to go by then, if not, do it again.
 
If you're worried about it, give the cows a shot of Dystosel 3 weeks before calving and it should clear it up. If not, just leave it and let the calf go on hard ground. In 10 days, you won't recognize it
 
Had a cow produce one like that last year...He didn't stay up long...but he would get up long enough to eat...& go back down...Vet said leave em alone by the time I wean him I won't be able to tell....for the most part he was right ...when I weaned him he would walk strait...BUT when he relaxed the knees they would bow back out... :? ....We also had one that walked on her ankles....I was told the same...She was ok also.. :D
 
littlejoe said:
We get one or two a yr that kinda walks on his ankles---I usually just kinda splint them kinda straight with couple layers of pine shingles in the front, use freezer or masking tape, not too tight. They'll fall off in about 3 days, he's usually good to go by then, if not, do it again.
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The ones with just weak ankles are usually caused by not enough room in the womb-- and according to my Vet and from experience usually with heavy BW's and/or overweight cows... And like you said they usually come out of it in a few days or week or two...
One of the reasons I would rather calve out a group of cows a little underweight than a bunch that are overweight.....

But those usually don't have bow legs....Just weak at the ankles...
 
The ones with just weak ankles are usually caused by not enough room in the womb-- and according to my Vet and from experience usually with heavy BW's and/or overweight cows... And like you said they usually come out of it in a few days or week or two...

Many times twins are like this or big calves , It will spap out of it ...
 
This isn't weak ankles. He can't bend his front legs from the knee or his ankles along with his bowed legs. He can stand up but can't get his feet under him to stand longer than 5 seconds. The thing is if he does stand I'm not sure how well he could walk because of how bowed his legs are.
 
tenbach79 said:
This isn't weak ankles. He can't bend his front legs from the knee or his ankles along with his bowed legs. He can stand up but can't get his feet under him to stand longer than 5 seconds. The thing is if he does stand I'm not sure how well he could walk because of how bowed his legs are.
Click to expand...

If you can physically straighten his legs and they aren't "locked" in position there is hope. We have had several crab legged calves over the years. Keep the milk in him and pull his legs out in front when he's lying down.
An old kitchen chair is pretty handy to put under him while feeding him off the cow. ( I take it you have a chute or maternity pen.) It will also encourage the calf to try and use his legs.

Don't give up yet, he straightens out like he should and there is a thousand dollar bill to cash this fall! :wink:

Good Luck
 
We have had a few calves like that here a few times. Been long ago so don't remember to well. If they were not to bad sometimes they got over it, but had bowed legs. Didn't know the cause but thought maybe we were buying to many of our bulls from the same source.

Those with just bent ankles usually got allright in a few days or weeks did have one or two that would walk on their ankles part of the time later. We thought that might have been from not enough room before they were born and the ankles bent to long. Did get a few with bowed or short tendons and a cleft pallet, but I don't think we have lupine here. We do have Lamberts Crazy Weed, thought it might be that.
 
If you have raised any number of cattle you will see this and it's usually NOTHING at all.

Crowded in the womb,big baby,or just one of those things. Just make sure it's nursing/getting groceries and it will get over it.

These are growing babies and their tendons and bones are elastic. Learn physio of calf, get yourself some books and read up.

Best thing it can do is try to get up and walk on it's own. Few days to a wk or so and you'll never know it!
 
I have had a few bow-legged calves like that over the years. The worst one had to come out the side because the legs wouldn't straighten at all. I have never had one get big enough to even make a butcher calf out of. Now the ones that walk on their first joint instead of their hooves always seem to get better within a week with no intervention at all.
 

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