Torn ACL

[Cyfarmer]

Need some advice or help if anyone has experience.
Have a really nice cale (approx. 350#) still on the cow
She tried to jump a wall, and started limping on her rear leg on saturday. I treated her twice, and had the vet out today. He is pretty sure it is a torn ACL (similar to what athletes get) His experience was that most do not come out of it, and essentially you have a calf that never will put weight on the leg again. Anybody else have experience with something like this - looking for advice.
Thanks
Cyfarmer

 

[cpubarn]

My first thought is if she spooked enough to jump the wall, is she show material?

I don't know what happened. 

I am sure there is a lot of disappointment/worry involved, I hope it works out for you.

I haven't had a calf with a torn ACL so it will be interesting to hear suggestions.  From my personal ACL repair I know it takes a LONG time in people.

Mark

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

From what I have been told by my vet on a commercial heifer calf we had. Will not repair or heal like humans that have been surgically repaired and will always limp as he will favor that leg not wanting to put weight on it. We were going to originally keep the heifer as we wanted to keep her as a replacement heifer. But after talking with the vet and knowing she would have taken a big dock at the auction, we fed her out for butcher ourself and she walked with a limp till the day she was processed.

 

[Lucky_P]

I have a different take on ACL ruptures in COWS - after an initial period of lameness, most I've seen through the years stabilize enough that they're able to get around just fine, often without any real significant gait abnormalities, and maintain body condition.  All a cow has to do is walk around, eat, and raise a calf - and most stifled cows are able to do that just fine unless they have to cover a lot of rough country. They might come in last in a race - but who needs a fast cow?
Now...a 'show' heifer may be a different matter, but it's not necessarily a career-ending injury from a reproductive standpoint.

BULLS - ACL rupture may well be(and usually is) a career-ending injury.  For an average commercial bull, it's probably The End, but if you've got enough spare bull capacity, and he's worth gambling 6 months to a year on, some may recover and stabilize enough to go back into (at least light) service.
Back in the day(30 years ago), we used to custom-build Thomas splint apparatuses out of heavy electrical conduit, fit 'em on those bulls, and confine 'em to a stall for months.  Probably the worst thing we could have done for 'em.
Better to put'em in a 1-acre lot with feed & water located at opposite ends from one another and allow 'em to walk around, build up muscle mass(not atrophy it like in a splint in a stall) and scar tissue to stablize the joint. 

 

[Cyfarmer]

I figured the show thing was over for her. Hadn't had plans to keep as a breeding animal anyway - she is a walks alone and was designed to be a market heifer anyway. She is not spooky by nature, and the cow is not either. We were washing her at the fair for a show, and some other calves spooked causing her to get spooked, and she tried to jump the concrete wall she was tied to in the washrack. She went back on her rear legs, and then fell down. Just trying to figure out where to go from here.
Cyfarmer

 

[vc]

I'm guessing feed bunk and then the table.

 

[hamburgman]

Torn cruciate ligaments are the beginning of osteoarthritis. I highly doubt she will be functional for many years.

 

[cpubarn]

I figured the show thing was over for her. Hadn't had plans to keep as a breeding animal anyway - she is a walks alone and was designed to be a market heifer anyway. She is not spooky by nature, and the cow is not either. We were washing her at the fair for a show, and some other calves spooked causing her to get spooked, and she tried to jump the concrete wall she was tied to in the washrack. She went back on her rear legs, and then fell down. Just trying to figure out where to go from here.
Cyfarmer

That is too bad on this heifer, by the sound of it she would have been fun to have a young person show.