It's a short published newsletter this month as most of what was sent out was for my farm clients only.

A Lame Heifer

I saw a lame beef heifer the other day that was suckling calves. This animal had recently arrived on the farm and at first glance the thought was she had a touch of foul and an antibiotic injection should sort it. Once we had got the foot up and removed all of the muck that was sticking to the foot I realized that the heifer had dermatitis and that the infection had been able to spread to both heals of the foot. The thing is this is a herd where suckle and rear calves and where they do not usually get cases of dermatitis so there were a lot of animals potentially susceptible to it. After spraying the foot and covering it with a bandage it was decided the best course was to keep her alone with her calves in a dry loose box so that the infection could not be transmitted to other animals. Tylan does seem to have some effect against dermatitis so three days of treatment were given to hopefully make this the only case of this lameness that occurs on that farm.

And a Lame Bull

Bulls are not easy to handle at the best of times and when one goes lame it can be all to easy to assume that it is an injury if he has been working or a case of foul that should respond to a hefty dose of antibiotics. It can be a big problem sometimes to investigate a bull’s foot as they are usually reluctant to enter a crush. That is why we usually have to sedate lame bulls and work on their feet when they are on the ground. One animal I looked at recently had only just gone lame and had not been serving many cows as it was a quiet time of the year for him. Once he went down all that was revealed was the smallest of cracks between the lateral wall of the hoof and the sole. The further I went the wider the crack became and I was amazed at the size of the cavity beneath it. Fortunately the feet of this bull were otherwise in a good shape so I was able to leave plenty of his foot for him to walk on. An abscess in a bull’s foot seems to develop quickly because of the weight of the animal so it is important to find out exactly what is going on before it spreads too far.

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