Cow broke off her horn?

[unregistered168043]

Our milking cow abruptly busted off her horn yesterday. She was over by the tractor, not sure what happened but she must have got spooked or somehow slammed her horn against the side of the tractor and the whole horn broke off!

She was bleeding yesterday. The bleeding seems to have stopped but it is obviously causing her alot of discomfort. She will eat grain but has no interest in grazing. It is raining here and she is choosing to stay in her stall which is very unusual for her. I tried to spray it down with blue coat again but she wont let me.

Should I be concerned about this? This never happened to her before. Everything i read online tells us to just leave it alone.

[unregistered41671]

I have seen some like this and sawed many horns off. IF we happened to have some kind of sulfur powder close by, we sprinkled some into and on the wound. The blue spay would work about as well. If not I would not worry.

[nosqrls]

If you can get to the vet. Let him know what she did if the bleeding is stopped. Get her something for the pain and a antibiotic. If pills crush them and put in her feed, offer hay to her. She will be alright as long as the bleeding stopped. She will be in pain for a few days. it will grow back as long as it didn't rip the root out. Just smaller than the other. add some selenium to mineral or get a block.

[Allen W]

What's it like after it was broke of? If it left a ragged stump it might need took off to heal faster.

[unregistered168043]

Originally Posted by Allen W

What's it like after it was broke of? If it left a ragged stump it might need took off to heal faster.

No the whole outer casing came off and the under part. All that is left is a soft gelatinus tissue in the shape of a horn.

[G. Seddon]

I had a weanling heifer break a horn off when she struggled in the chute; the vet quickly removed it AND the other horn after numbing both sides. A dose of Flunixin for pain was also given after the procedure.

I thought the heifer would never come in the pen again, but she was first in line the next morning and never looked back. Sure surprised me!

[Allen W]

She will be alright, it will take a while for it to heal and it will look funny when healed.

[Awnry Abe]

It was probably a good bell ringer.

[ksfarmer]

My advice would be to have the vet take off the remainder. It will heal faster. The core without the shell on it will be like a sore tooth, anything touches it will cause pain.

[idigbeets]

Hit it w/ some BlueKote in the mean time....

[unregistered41671]

Originally Posted by ksfarmer

My advice would be to have the vet take off the remainder. It will heal faster. The core without the shell on it will be like a sore tooth, anything touches it will cause pain.

I agree with ksf here. I thought the entire horn came off. If the outer shell came off, it will be painful. Kinda like a fingernail that is pulled off.

[Jennifer L.]

I've seen this happen to a few cows, and I've always just let them be. They heal up looking a little different from a normal horn, but they used them just like the old horn!

I'm sure it's really sore for awhile, but horns are kind of made by nature to survive damage. I would not bother it unless it's a case of the damage going into the cow's skull at the base of the horn. I saw that with a cow that jumped into the side of a moving pick up truck at night when she was in heat and got out onto the road (hello, Prudential over that one). In that case we took the horn off so it wouldn't put any more strain on her skull if she hit the horn remnant into something else and tried to crack her skull any further. She healed up just fine in a few months from it. Definitely hard headed animals.

[unregistered168043]

Definitely surprised at how easily it seemed to happen. The tractor was parked, and she was grazing around it peacefully one second, and the next i heard a clunk and she seemd to spook away from it. When i got up there I saw she was bleeding and missing a horn, just like that. The whole outer shell of the horn was laying on the floor.

Today she definitely seems better, I got up late and she was bawling and anxious to get out and start grazing. I checked on her an hour ago and she was grazing and seemed fine. That soft inner 'jelly horn' picked up and now is in the right shape. It has dried and crusted over. She is still favoring that side and has less of her regular 'attitude' but at least has her appetite back.

[unregistered168043]

Update; Guys, I'm getting a little nervous at the amount of flies that are all over this horn. I have sprayed it good with blue coat and it is mostly dry and getting harder but there is a crack along the side and I can see the flies are just in a frenzy over it.

Should i be concerned about this? Not sure what to do about it, whether she is in the barn or outside there are flies. I read everywhere they say not to wrap it. I'm worried they are laying eggs and she is going to get maggots in there, not sure if i should be worried.

[G. Seddon]

I'd be worried about that too.

I think you can use "Swat" (an equine product) on cows; read the label first. You could call Farnam (manufacturer) at 1-800-234-2269 and ask.

Or, if you have a pour-on dewormer, you might apply a bit to her head (not directly on the horn wound).

Or call your vet and get some advice about what else you can do.

[ksfarmer]

That horn won't ever be normal like it was. Is there a particular reason why you don't want to have her dehorned? Talk to a vet who works with cattle and listen to his advice.

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by ksfarmer

That horn won't ever be normal like it was. Is there a particular reason why you don't want to have her dehorned? Talk to a vet who works with cattle and listen to his advice.

Exactly. I'd see if I could get the broken mess taken off and at the same time remove the other. Won't ever match as it is. Possible she could whack the other one and go through this again (I know slim chance). Plus a lot of people and cows and horses are laid open by horns, intentional or misdirected.

[Jennifer L.]

I was under the impression before that she simply knocked the outer horn off. If you have a crack in that to the interior you need to fly protect it. If the horn is removed you are still going to have the fly issue, so I don't see a real need to go about removal now unless it's a lot easier to protect the open wound that cutting the horn off is going to create.

Keep her dosed on fly dope and wrap the horn with gauze to keep them out but to allow air to enter. It's either do that yourself or get it handled by the vet.

[ksfarmer]

Originally Posted by Jennifer L.

I was under the impression before that she simply knocked the outer horn off. If you have a crack in that to the interior you need to fly protect it. If the horn is removed you are still going to have the fly issue, so I don't see a real need to go about removal now unless it's a lot easier to protect the open wound that cutting the horn off is going to create.

Keep her dosed on fly dope and wrap the horn with gauze to keep them out but to allow air to enter. It's either do that yourself or get it handled by the vet.

The point I am trying to make is that the horn core will NOT heal correctly and will continue to be a problem. Every time she bumps it will knock the crust off and may bleed and continue to be a problem with flies. Dehorning the entire thing will allow for complete healing. Dehorning isn't normally done in fly season, but this isn't a normal situation. Just take care to keep flies off.

[unregistered168043]

OK guys thanks for the input. We are calling in the vet today to see what can be done. Also going to wrap that horn in gauze for the time being. IDK whether we'll dehorn or not, whatever is best for the cow at this point.