advice needed

[scholtefamily]

Found this cut on our cow tonight. Was going to clean her up and put some antiboitic ointment on her............but then what? Do I need to wrap this with gauze, a sock, leave it open? We don't have anywhere to put her to confine her to keep her from getting it dirty....... your thoughts?

thanks in advance, Stacey

having posting problems, please check out the link below for a photo of it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53200309@N02/4911230169/

[tinknal]

I would clean it up good, put antibiotic ointment on it, and maybe some bluecote. If you are not milking her a dose of penicillin wouldn't hurt. I would leave it open. In that location a bandage would soon be a filthy mess.

I would spray the whole cow for flys and really douse the area around the wound.

Keep her on grass or in a very well bedded area.

I think she will be OK.

[gone-a-milkin]

I agree with tinknal.
Keep it uncovered, but make sure the flies dont set up camp there.

[onthespot]

I agree too. I don't and never have owned a cow, but I'd do the same for a horse, which I have had numerous ones for forty years.

[genebo]

On goats, I like to slip a sock over the hoof. It protects for a while, and by the time it gets filthy, it usually falls off. At each treatment, I can decide whether to put a fresh sock on or not. Once it stops weeping, I leave it open.

[springvalley]

Yep, I confer with my cohorts, and try and keep it clean. Now if it were a horse I would treat differantly. Looks nasty any idea what happened? >Thanks marc

[gwithrow]

we used a clean 2 gallon garden sprayer, filled with an epsom salt, betadine water solution to spray a very bad cut on a cow's leg....while she was eating and quiet I could get close enough to spray the wound well...twice a day..didn't require any restraints , after spraying with the water solution, I could then squirt on some 'cut heal'....no flies and eventually this healed up...

[Ronney]

Do not wrap it or cover it in any way unless you want a big infection. I have no idea what has caused it but it has bled and looks clean. The most I would do at this point is spray it with Iodine twice a day and keep her on dry paddock if possible i.e. no mud.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[agmantoo]

Provided you can keep the flies off it will heal itself. Watch closely for a maggot infestation.

[linn]

Originally Posted by gwithrow

we used a clean 2 gallon garden sprayer, filled with an epsom salt, betadine water solution to spray a very bad cut on a cow's leg....while she was eating and quiet I could get close enough to spray the wound well...twice a day..didn't require any restraints , after spraying with the water solution, I could then squirt on some 'cut heal'....no flies and eventually this healed up...

The cut heal sounds like a great idea to keep off flies.

[Madsaw]

How deep is it? The pic looks like it could be deep. Do as the others have said wash it down with iodine then salve. As too the chance of maggots. I would spray the heal area once a day or more if there is eggs present with Screw worm spray. This kills maggots and the eggs too. Can be gotten at most farm supply stores. Also if it is deep a few days of pennicillin will not hurt nothing.
Bob

[scholtefamily]

Thanks for all the advice. We have no idea how she did this. It is a little more than a surface wound. This morning it still looks very red and raw. How long should this take to scab over? I have been spraying it with tea tree oil and the flies seem to be staying away.

[tinknal]

Often a wound in a spot like that will never scab completely over. It will sometimes just heal from the edges inward.

[commonsense]

I had a horse come in from pasture with a similar wound, probably clipped himself with another hoof. Not sure how your cow managed that, but with the horse, we just left it uncovered and kept him out of muddy/wet/dirty areas until it healed, which it did very quickly.