Post by april on Aug 23, 2008 23:32:53 GMT -5
Dear friends,
Pardon my forwardness - I hardly post at all, but I read all of your posts voraciously. I'm sure we'd totally be friends!
Hubby and I took the plunge and bought a Jersey. She's not in milk or bred and entirely too skinny (even for a Jersey). But she needed us - so she's here.
I do have a couple of questions, though.
First, the non-essential question... she was originally from a dairy and her tail is docked. It pains me that she can't switch off flies and bugs. Would it be horrible if I made her a "hair extension" and somehow attached it so that she could have some use out of her poor tail?
Now the question that worries me. Her back feet are absolutely horrible. They've grown out nearly into slippers. Do cows "founder" (I don't know what it's really called) like horses do, causing her hooves to turn up, or could they just be way overgrown?
I'm searching for someone to come trim them - or at least take a look, but I'm not finding anyone. I'll do it myself if I must, although not without a LOT more research. I trim a lot of goat hooves, but this is a whole different ballpark. I'm just afraid that the trimming may cause harm if the cause of the overgrowth is something other than just neglect. She's not having any sort of problems getting around - no limping, really active, etc.
I absolutely adore this cow - and I think she kinda digs me too. She likes my husband better, but I'm used to that around the farm. He's got some sort of animal magic or something.
She's starting to gain condition, so that's good. I worried for a bit about Johne's, but no diarrhea or any other symptom and she's putting on weight so I don't think that's an issue.
Oh - one last question, I promise. I've got a good reliable AI tech waiting on my call. Do you think I should have the hooves taken care of before we AI, or would that be an ok thing to do while she's pregnant? She's been dry and open since December after having calved in March, so I don't want to wait too much longer.
Thanks so much for your input!
-April
Pardon my forwardness - I hardly post at all, but I read all of your posts voraciously. I'm sure we'd totally be friends!
Hubby and I took the plunge and bought a Jersey. She's not in milk or bred and entirely too skinny (even for a Jersey). But she needed us - so she's here.
I do have a couple of questions, though.
First, the non-essential question... she was originally from a dairy and her tail is docked. It pains me that she can't switch off flies and bugs. Would it be horrible if I made her a "hair extension" and somehow attached it so that she could have some use out of her poor tail?
Now the question that worries me. Her back feet are absolutely horrible. They've grown out nearly into slippers. Do cows "founder" (I don't know what it's really called) like horses do, causing her hooves to turn up, or could they just be way overgrown?
I'm searching for someone to come trim them - or at least take a look, but I'm not finding anyone. I'll do it myself if I must, although not without a LOT more research. I trim a lot of goat hooves, but this is a whole different ballpark. I'm just afraid that the trimming may cause harm if the cause of the overgrowth is something other than just neglect. She's not having any sort of problems getting around - no limping, really active, etc.
I absolutely adore this cow - and I think she kinda digs me too. She likes my husband better, but I'm used to that around the farm. He's got some sort of animal magic or something.
She's starting to gain condition, so that's good. I worried for a bit about Johne's, but no diarrhea or any other symptom and she's putting on weight so I don't think that's an issue.
Oh - one last question, I promise. I've got a good reliable AI tech waiting on my call. Do you think I should have the hooves taken care of before we AI, or would that be an ok thing to do while she's pregnant? She's been dry and open since December after having calved in March, so I don't want to wait too much longer.
Thanks so much for your input!
-April