# New Born Crippled Calf



## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Thanksgiving Day morning a first-calf Brangus heifer delivered a bull calf that is crippled in the hind legs. A travelling bull used on mature cows jumped the fence and bred the heifer. The calf cannot use its hind legs that are considered "wind swept," that is, the legs tend to hang to the right side and remain almost touching each other. The legs are not paralyzed. When the calf is rolled on its back, it can kick these legs. The calf cannot get up on its own. When I get the calf up and hold it up by the tail or its flanks it can walk using its front legs but it either drags the rear legs or attempts to hop while keeping the hind legs together. This is not a selenium deficient area, but at times the calf stands straight on its hooves and sometimes the hooves are bent back.

One veterinarian indicated (sight unseen) that this calf will never recover use of these legs. Another veterinarian, on physical inspection of the calf, indicated that it should recover the use of these legs. My questions: Has anyone on HayTalk ever owned a calf with a similar abnormality? Will this calf ever walk, or am I being too optimistic?


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Sorry to read about your crippled calf but I have no idea if calf will ever walk on it's own.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Never had that with the hind legs, have had em where the front feet roll back and they walk on their "ankles" and they quickly outgrow that, usually a big calf that needed assistance to be born.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I have never seen a newborn with the hind leg issues you describe.

Since the calf can kick when on it's back and the trouble is when upright, tends to point to neurological rather than structural.

I wonder how the legs would react to swimming motion? Might not be feasible.

I once rehabbed a fawn with "rear end wobbles" by letting it float/kick in a water trough we set up in the back yard.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

That sounds a lot like a calf my wife's herd had a few weeks ago. She called the Vet and he said he seen that before and gave it a selenium and vitamin A or B shot, she can't remember exactly which vitamin. It was real wobbly for a day or two but now it's running around everywhere. The Vet said if that didn't do it there was not much else he could try.

She keeps Southern States Cattleman's Pride Weather Shed 2:1 Beef minerals, very similar to Purina's Wind and Rain, for the mama cows during the entire calving season. It's high in Selenium and has really cut back on the prolapse problems.

https://www.southernstates.com/catalog/p-9961-southern-states-cattlemans-pride-weathershed-21-beef-mineral-50-lb.aspx


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

After describing this calf's condition to the veterinarian, he prescribed Selenium + vitamin E; Vitamin ABD, and an antibiotic. That was shortly after the calf was born. Today, I realized that moving the hind legs forward past vertical with the calf standing apparently hurts the calf as it would jump with the rear legs.

Thanks for your responses.


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## Supa Dexta (May 28, 2014)

I had a hard birth last yr, a heifer calf that couldn't use her back legs for nearly a week. I would tie the cow and set up a lawn chair and put the calf over my knee a few times a day so it could nurse and then after a week it could stand on its own. It was 80lbs and born to a 14month old heifer. It turned out fine in the end and I kept her.


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