Structure Wreck or ??

[StagecoachCattle]

Hey All,

I thought everyone was happy and healthy but I was out observing 30 day old calves on this one is looking to be bucking at the knees. A few days ago I noticed he popped one knee forward while standing on uneven ground, but I didn't think much of it. The last two days I've been looking at decided yea, something isn't right. Today, we moved pastures and they did a lot of running, and he tired himself out. When he was tired it became very much more evident. He was bucking forward on both front knees. I've never had one do this in my few calves and I'm trying to decipher if it's just a structure wreck, or if there is something else going on. I have seen other topics points towards joint ill, but he's 30 days old, is it likely to just be showing up now?

He's out of the last cow I would anticipate throwing structure issues, she's 1/2 AN, 1/4 SH, 1/4 MA and not extreme in any way. He's sired by No Surprise, a monopoly son.

It's frustrating, because up until this point I've really liked him, and was excited about what he'd develop into.

Opinions? Worth having the vet come up? He doesn't act sore, bright eyed, spunky. Ripping through the pasture tonight at a dead sprint in circles.

I don't have any other photos of him on the profile except for the last few days to help see him before it started to become an issue.

 

[gary89]

Don't waste any money on a vet call.  This happens and is a byproduct of breeding show calves. It usually affects the good ones.  All is not lost,  sometimes they will grow out of it and be ok. Anyone who has bred to clubby bulls has had some of these.  The worst one's are locked up on their hind legs.  They will look better for a while , give you hope and then get worse.  If it's just his front legs he may be ok later and at least be able to feed him out.
Good luck!

 

[snoit]

I would not worry about it we had one last year that looked worse than that. He is fine now and moves freely.

 

[OH Breeder]

we had one that was worse than that. When he was close to weaning he seem to clear right up. was worried we would have to put him down, but came out of it.

 

[afhm]

A shot of mulit-min will do wonders for him.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

Heres one out of my old cow-he might have been OK-but not unless those front legs change by some miracle O0

 

[StagecoachCattle]

Thanks everyone for the input.....I guess I'll just wait and see as long as he seems happy, spunky and able to get around good. He's certainly standing on them better when he hasn't been running laps around the pasture and is tired.

 

[BroncoFan]

By chance did the calf have to be pulled?  We had a Young Money steer that was over on his knees around this time two years ago.  By August, he was sound as a cat. He just glided along when he walked. We attributed it to a hard pull.

 

[wyatt]

By chance did the calf have to be pulled?  We had a Young Money steer that was over on his knees around this time two years ago.  By August, he was sound as a cat. He just glided along when he walked. We attributed it to a hard pull.

we had the same thing happen with an I 80 calf out of a heifer we weren't here to pull it so our neighbor did and I think that was the problem he used twine I believe and the calf had a lot of problems starting out but as the days went he just got better and better sold him as a bull and the people said you would've never known by the way he is today

 

[mainecattlemother]

We also had a calf we had to pull I believe it was March 1.  It was a first calf heifer so we bred with I-80.  The heifer was also shown as a market heifer and was very extreme.  She was a Monopoly x Friction.  We probably should have let her go to market but we had the idea that she could have the next big market heifer or market steer.  She had won many shows during her show career and we were excited for calf as we thought with I-80 we would be okay.  Needless to say we had a 100 lb bull calf.  For about three to four weeks we thought we were going to have a cripple and gradually he started walking better and was covering his tracks quite nicely.  I observed this first and my husband said I was crazy and he would never come out of it but the other day when I wasnt home he watched the calf and called me on the cell phone and said I was right and the calf was walking great and there was no signs of a cripple.  This was a couple weeks ago and he is looking great and has been started on creep feed.  We have very high hopes for him so there is hope your calf could come out of it.  Good luck.

 

[StagecoachCattle]

Thanks all, this calf wasn't pulled, but was unassisted at 102 pounds and a bit stiff as you'd expect with a calf of that size.

Based on what I've seen since I posted these pictures I think he'll be fine, I'm kind of thinking along the lines that he was still straightening out from birth, then exhausted himself to the point he started to pop over at the knee because he was too tired to stand up on them. I'm hopeful that they will continue to get stronger as he gets older.

Since the day I originally posted he's seemed to be up on his legs pretty good. Here is an updated photo, it's not great but it's nearly impossible to get him to not turn and look at me and cast a big shadow over his shoulder area from his head.

 

[Telos]

He just needs to be designed a little different through the shoulder region, IMO. He's pretty steep in his angles with those front feet and legs not having too much room but to toe out and the knees to come forward. He's a question mark when you start to feed one like that as heavier weights can take a toll with mobility. I do hope he can stay sound because he looks like he will have a lot of meat in him.