Foot Rot

[cjc]

Just wanted to get some advice on what you would do with foot rot. I am not positive that's what it is at this point but I want to be prepared if she is down.

I have an 8 year old shorthorn. About 7-8 months pregnant. Yesterday when she went to get up it took her a good 3 minutes, she was moaning but she did get up. She's a BIG girl.

Luckily the vet was already on his way over to have a look at another one of my cows so I asked him to look at my shorthorn. He said that he couldn't see anything on her feet but it didn't mean it wasn't the start of foot rot. He said leave her for now and if she starts to show more signs give her a long lasting Penicillin.

My cattle rancher friend was over at the same time and he was questioning the vet. He agreed that I should just wait this out and only treat if it gets worse but he said use Resflor not Penicillin.

What do you guys think? Would you just go ahead and treat her now? And what would be your drug of choice?

She's slow on her feet but I seriously wonder if its because she is so pregnant and so big and maybe just uncomfortable. When she calved last year she was very slow for months before.



(Picture is not for reference haha, just to show you how funny she is)

 

[greybeard]

My choice for early footrot was LA300 and a sulfa bolus--thankfully, I haven't had it in any of mine but once. Footrot makes 'em limp on just the affected hoof unless it's all 4 hooves.
Resflor is good--and expensive. You might want to check the restrictions on it regarding pregnant animals and lactating animals since she's so far along.

 

[cjc]

My choice for early footrot was LA300 and a sulfa bolus--thankfully, I haven't had it in any of mine but once. Footrot makes 'em limp on just the affected hoof unless it's all 4 hooves.
Resflor is good--and expensive. You might want to check the restrictions on it regarding pregnant animals and lactating animals since she's so far along.

Thanks. Would you go ahead and treat right away or just wait it out? We have a lot of foot rot here being in British Columbia. In October for example we had 29 days of rain. We really struggle to keep our herd dry and out of mud from September - January.

 

[Green Acres Farm]

Thanks. Would you go ahead and treat right away or just wait it out? We have a lot of foot rot here being in British Columbia. In October for example we had 29 days of rain. We really struggle to keep our herd dry and out of mud from September - January.

Are parasites a problem for you? Or is it just always cold?

Just curious.

 

[greybeard]

Thanks. Would you go ahead and treat right away or just wait it out? We have a lot of foot rot here being in British Columbia. In October for example we had 29 days of rain. We really struggle to keep our herd dry and out of mud from September - January.

If mine, here--in East Texas, I would start treating it as soon as I was pretty sure it was footrot, but.........
There's a thread on wintering cattle I saw posted last weekend--in NY. I saw it right after it was posted but elected to not offer my input because what I would do here 1300+ miles further south would have little bearing on what would be done in a Northern latitude.

You're even further away, in a seasonal environment I don't encounter. We do get a lot of rain, but my place drains well and quickly and I can move the herd to high dry ground even if it gets muddy in the lower ends. My real honest suggestion is chose between what your vet advised and the advise your neighbor gave. I'm not trying to put you off, but they have seen her--I have not.
Good luck with it.

 

[cjc]

Are parasites a problem for you? Or is it just always cold?

Just curious.

Yes and No. We ALWAYS get a case of mange every year, or some sort of fungus from them always being wet. It doesn't get as cold in BC as it does in most parts of Canada, we only have a few weeks of it being below freezing, we get little to no snow either. It is actually illegal here to have any livestock without shelter. All of our pastures have shelters big enough to hold the herd in the field. But when it rains it pours. We have to cover their hay feeder and then they all stand around under the shelter, the water builds, the mud builds and usually by late November we are worried about our cows getting literally stuck in the mud. Last year we had one up to her chest in mud. We try to put down pit run to help drain it but it rains a lot. In October we had a good 10 days where we had 50-80mm of rain.

For the first time this year I have a cow calving in winter, this is the cow I think has foot rot. I am going to move her into the driest pasture with my bottle calves where she can go into a full covered facility. I think if I move her in there it will help dry out her feet a bit and will be a better place for her to have her calf.

 

[jhm47]

Footrot usually only affects one foot at a time. The fact that she is slow getting up doesn't mean footrot, it could be any number of other things. I notice that she's quite heavy. Could it be that she's possibly developing pregnancy disease? It's quite common in sheep when they are carrying multiple lambs, and it can also occur in cattle when they are fat, and carrying twins/trips. This happens when the digestive system becomes so crowded that they are unable to process and digest their feed. The fat surrounding their internal organs, along with the added pressure of the distended uterus will compress their rumen, intestines, etc., and severely disrupt their ability to digest food. This along with the added demands that multiple, quickly growing calves will cause the cow to be weak and unable to rise due to weakness. The best remedy is to slowly add nutrient dense feed to their diet, so they don't have to process a lot of bulky feed in order to satisfy their growing demands. Good luck! Oh-- I like Zuprevo or Draxxin for footrot treatment. They both last up to a week, and they WORK!

 

[cjc]

Footrot usually only affects one foot at a time. The fact that she is slow getting up doesn't mean footrot, it could be any number of other things. I notice that she's quite heavy. Could it be that she's possibly developing pregnancy disease? It's quite common in sheep when they are carrying multiple lambs, and it can also occur in cattle when they are fat, and carrying twins/trips. This happens when the digestive system becomes so crowded that they are unable to process and digest their feed. The fat surrounding their internal organs, along with the added pressure of the distended uterus will compress their rumen, intestines, etc., and severely disrupt their ability to digest food. This along with the added demands that multiple, quickly growing calves will cause the cow to be weak and unable to rise due to weakness. The best remedy is to slowly add nutrient dense feed to their diet, so they don't have to process a lot of bulky feed in order to satisfy their growing demands. Good luck! Oh-- I like Zuprevo or Draxxin for footrot treatment. They both last up to a week, and they WORK!

Thank you! Yes, she is a very FAT cow. We give her little to no grain, about a handful a day but we have taken that away now. She is just eating round bales with the herd now as we don't have much of any grass this time of year. She did get like this last time she calved. She literally fell through the fence because she was leaning on it so hard all day. She gets massive and spits out BIG calves, 120lbs+. She is walking tender on her feet. When the vet saw her the first thing he asked me was if that cow had a sore foot. Seems to be one or both of her front feet.

Would a vet be able to feel twins when they do a preg check? She was checked about 2 months ago. I am going to move her to the driest part of the farm to try and dry her feet.

 

[farmerjan]

If the vet does preg checks with ultrasound, they usually do them earlier on, from 28 to 100 days and they can tell the sex at about 55 days I think. Also, they can usually tell if it is twins also. Most of the dairy farmers that I milk test for, do ultrasound now. Don't know for sure about further along, but we mostly do palpation preg checks and they usually cannot tell if it is twins. And after about 5 months, the calf is further down over the pelvic area and it is hard for them to be accurate as to how far along, as compared to when they are in the 35 days to about 4 months. Some vets are better at it than others too. It may just be that the feet are tender due to being wet, and it will make the hooves a little softer; and her heavy weight is not helping her. I know that shorthorns do tend to gain weight and hold their weight very good, to the point of getting fat and staying that way. I think moving her to the driest place you can will help. Might try some supplement gel with prop. glycol like they give to sheep when they get "pregnancy toxemia", or a nutrient dense feed like @jhm47 suggested. The rain and damp might also be contributing to the equivalent of bovine arthritis and that could be making her slow to get up and moving around. We had a bull that got arthritis and it was getting hard for him to get up and with his age we finally had to get rid of him. It wasn't fair to him to make him suffer through a winter and being in pain getting up and down. Damp and cold will make it worse in people, not that the cow is that old, but you add her weight and bulk to it.....