Please help-steer injured leg in round bale feeder (long story)

sassafras manor · #1 01/13/12, 08:28 AM

I have a 6 month old Holstein steer that had managed to get his left rear leg stuck in one horizontal rings around the outside of my round bale feeder. He was down on his side when I got home from work yesterday afternoon. I do not know how long he had been in that situation but keep in mind that it was snowing, 15 degress with 25-30 mph winds yesterday afternoon when I got home. He was alert and shivering so I wrestled him out of the ring and pushed him up on his side. He tried to get up but was unable to so I gave him fresh hay and sweet feed while making arrangements to get him into the barn. Since he could not stand up my 7 yr old son guided me close with the bucket of the tractor and I was able to push him into that for the ride to the barn. I propped him up with a square bale of straw on his left side, covered him with loose straw to help him warm up, gave him feed/warm water/hay for the night. My wife and I both checked on him around 9pm and he was alert, chewing cud, had made a nice pile of manure and had warmed up enought to stop shivering. This morning he had moved forward about 4-5 ft. and was lying on his side so I propped him up again then gave him fresh water/feed/etc. I am going to call the vet this morning but any advice or suggestions would be helpful and appreciated.

Thanks - Matt

sassafras manor · #2 01/13/12, 11:07 AM

I just spoke with the vets assistant and they will not be able to make it out until tomorrow morning first thing. She asked if I had given banamine or not since it has a withdrawl period of 4 days. She did say that if the foot or leg was broken there was nothing that they could do so I am going to head home at lunch to check out the situation in daylight and make a decison at that point. If the situation requires would there be much worthwhile in having a 400lb holstein steer processed? I know the steaks would not be much of size but surely there would be some roasts and burger.
Matt

melo143 · #3 01/13/12, 12:23 PM

Sorry to hear about your steer, hamburger wood probably be fine. But first make sure it is as bad as you think. He might be just tired and sore from fighting, It was cold and he was scared at lunch he might be standing and fine.. I know im optimistict, but its not always doom and gloom.

sassafras manor · #4 01/13/12, 12:26 PM

I am preparing either way. I very much hope that he is up and fine here in a few minutes when i go home but I also have called the processor just in case. It is better to be prepared than not. If he does have to be dispatched, I will have to do it myself and gut, skin and cut in half in order for the processor to do the rest. I will update in an hour or so.
Matt

Callieslamb · #5 01/13/12, 12:26 PM

And he might be able to get around a bit on it even if it is injured. I had a small calf sprain his ankle (per vet) a couple of times. He always limped a bit but he got up to 1000- lbs anyway. Let's just hope it's not broken and he's just recooperating.

agmantoo · #6 01/13/12, 12:57 PM

A 6 month old calf is very resilient when having a problem as you described. I fully believe that unless it has a bone penetrating the skin it will recover. I have made a splint before and set a calves leg that was broken and when it healed the calf had no lasting issues.

sassafras manor · #7 01/13/12, 01:37 PM

Well good news, I went home at lunch and could see into the barn from the road that the calf was sitting up and eating. As I approached the east end of the barn where I have it protected from the weather it started to bellow. It is very alert, has shifted its weight and legs around but has no desire to get up. I rolled in from one side to another and each time it repositioned its front and rear legs with no problem. The straw that I have spread oout over the top of him was moved off soemtime while I was at work this morning and he is plenty warm and not sweating or wet. He is still eating, drinking and pooping and wants to get up and away from me but as he is leaning forward he stops. I did manage to check out his leg a little more and the hock joint is swollen and warm but no protruding bones or blood. We will see what the et has to say in the morning and hope for the best. I will say after as many episodes and he has put us thru these past 6 months, once/if he gets better he will be isolated and fed out much quicker than the rest. Thanks for the words of encouragement and advise and I will keep you all posted.
Matt

allenslabs · #8 01/13/12, 01:59 PM

Well then...that is hope! Best of luck. We have had a terrible year ourselves so know what you are going through. Keep us all posted!!

sassafras manor · #9 01/13/12, 02:07 PM

It was very disheartening to drive up yesterday and see it on its side stuck. We lost one yearling steer back in January 2011 in another feak round bale accident that I will never allow to happen again (bale shifted and pinned steers neck to middle ring in feeder and soffocated it). Then this summer and fall this particular one that is injured had issues with diahrea, worms and weight gain only to defeat those issues to be on the mend and then this happens. Hopefully tomorrow morning the vet says that it is nothing more than a strain or sprain and we are able to run the course successfuly with Banamine. We do not raise alot of cattle but they help supplement the other farm income. Thanks again!
Matt

haypoint · #10 01/13/12, 02:41 PM

It does take a lot of effort for a calf to stand up. If his leg joints hurt, he may not try. I've had luck creating a sling. In my experience, having him up so he can either rest in the sling or put weight on the injured leg helps get him going again.
But, I'm sure the Vet will know what's best for him.

sassafras manor · #11 01/13/12, 02:46 PM

I will wait to see what the vet has to say but I have already thought thru the process of making and attaching a sling to the barn rafters. I have seen many of you mention it in prior posts so the thought is being bounced around.
Matt

haypoint · #12 01/13/12, 08:37 PM

Well at least get him on different sides from time to time.

allenslabs · #13 01/13/12, 09:24 PM

The fact that he can rotate sides helps. That way nothing gets pinched or blood supply cut off. I thought all the bad luck was stuck at our farm but I guess not.

MO_cows · #14 01/13/12, 10:23 PM

What you have described sounds encouraging to me. Think about how a bovine gets up - the hind end first, so that leg is bearing a lot of weight and doing a lot of work until he gets on all 4. If it hurts a lot and he doesn't feel an urgent need to get up, he just isn't gonna do it. If he wasn't so de-sensitized to humans, he might try harder and make it up on his feet just to try and get away from you. As long as he is moving himself around some and being turned side to side to avoid constant pressure on one spot, and eating, drinking and eliminating, he sounds like he has a good chance. Good luck with the vet!

We never had any problems with our old steel hay ring except cattle pushing it up and then trapping themselves inside of it. Luckily they all figured out how to get out on their own and no injuries. But it was rusting out and falling apart so we bought a plastic one as replacement. I think it is ABS. It has a lot of "give" to it and hopefully we'll continue to avoid hay ring injuries. Something you might consider if it is a continuing problem at your place.

SteveO · #15 01/14/12, 10:48 AM

MO how about a picture or link to that ring. I've never heard of a plastic one
Steve

MO_cows · #16 01/14/12, 11:02 AM

This is similar, not the exact one we have.
Please help-steer injured leg in round bale feeder (long story) - Cattle

haypoint · #17 01/15/12, 05:38 PM

Up date, please?

sassafras manor · #18 01/16/12, 10:29 AM

Well Doc Charlie came out first thing Saturday morning and after looking the steer's leg over he determined it would best to put it down and at least get the meat out of it. I had only noticed the swelling at the foot/hock joint but he found much more swelling and pain at the elbow. There was too much swelling for him to tell if anything was broken or out of place. He said that he could give it Banamine for the swelling but if fever set in before he got better that we still might lose the steer and then also would lose the meat as well. So needless to say we spent Saturday morning killing, gutting and skinning a 6 month old steer to be made into ground beef. My 7 yr old son enjoyed the process with plenty of questions and observations. A man from church helped and he took the liver as a gift for helping out and our two boys had a biology lesson Saturday evening while dissecting the heart on the kitchen counter. My parents are going to buy the meat from us so at least he was not a complete waste. As finances allow I will be looking into a new round bale feeder to trying to improve the one we have.
Thanks - Matt

allenslabs · #19 01/16/12, 03:00 PM

What a bummer! But, at least you got the meat out of him. It would have been worse to lose him and the meat and all the time spent. Aren't kids weird? Mine like that kind of stuff too and I'm totally grossed out by blood. Don't know why and you would think as much as I am involved with the critters I would be good with it but no....still not.

Mo Cows - How does that ring stand up to the cows pushing in on it to get to the middle of the bale? We've been thinking about getting something similar but didn't know how well they would last.........

sassafras manor · #20 01/16/12, 03:15 PM

I was really surprised that he stuck around and watched the whole process since it was 14 degrees on Saturday morning. I have a neighbor that uses the black PVC round bale feeders for his breeder Angus bulls with good success so far. I will say that they are rather light in weight and I have seen one of the bulls with the ring up on his back.

Also Allenslabs thanks for the information about the signature etc.

Matt