Horn injury - it fell off!

[Applelonia]

I have no idea how this happened....Walter was outside playing with momma cow yesterday late morning. They were bucking and jumping around. Applelonia has been irritated with his pest-like behavior and has pushed him with her horns, smacked him with her snout and has kicked him. But yesterday, when this horn incident happened they were playing. I was watching them jumping and leaping around and I turned to walk away and headed into the barn and heard a gigantic crash like noise that sounded like one of them crashed into the woven wire fence. I looked out their stall door and Apple was just standing there as was Wally...no more playing. Only now Wally was vibrating so hard. His whole body was trembling. Found it odd as it felt like 5 degrees out. It was slightly chilly but not overly cold and he's fuzzy, eats well and is used to the cold. His injury was the side furthest from my line of sight so I didn't see it. I shovled out the stall quickly...put down new bedding and called App and him into the stall. 

There was bright red blood running down his face! I went inside and got warm wet papertowels to get him cleaned up and determine the point of injury.

He's always friendly and will happily come forward for me to pet him or give him a scratch. He was very apprehensive but came forward. He let me wash his face only a little and then didn't want me to touch him. He then kept backing away when I got close. I'm always telling him to back because he gets too close to me but yesterday he didn't want me near his injury. Debated restraining him to inspect the injury but thought it might cause more damage. He's used to having his halter on but I figured that if it's sore he would fight to get away. Might put a collar on him, as to not bump the horns, and try to restrain him and get a better look today...not sure how that will go. I've been working with him - tying him up for 15 minutes daily. He's getting used to it, but once he knows my intention is to look at his horn I suspect it won't go well.  Yesterday the AI guy looked at him and commented again on his size..."Man! He's a beefy, little guy isn't he!?" That Walter is...a solid block of muscle. Strong muscle....need to figure out some way to securely restrain him.....

From what I can tell, the blood was coming from the back side of the horn. Right where the bottom of the horn goes into the head. I can't tell if the horn was still firmly attached or not. It was still bleeding some last night when he rebumped it on the stall wall. He is eating hay well and nursing. 

Might it heal since he's so young and the horns or still small yet or will it most likely fall off? This would probably be the time to dehorn him but I really wanted to leave him horned. If no one buys him, I preferred to keep him horned...if he's beefed it doesn't really matter a great deal but there's still a slight possibility he will end up steerer and kept as a pet if I don't have the heart to butcher him. If kept as a pet, I'd prefer to have him horned. 

Thankfully it's winter and there are no flies! Should he have any kind of medication/treatment/veterinary care for such an injury or can I just wait and observe and see what happens? 

Poor Walter ...I bet it hurts

[donna12345]

leave it to knowledge here. but what a thing to have happen. i have horned,so interested. from what you reflect ,it was a trauma. you are fortunate he is SO handleable. will follow. hoping all well.

[treatlisa]

I would just watch it. It will likely heal, but might be knocked out of symmetry with the other. :/

[Applelonia]

Dec 11, 2016 10:35:48 GMT -5 treatlisa said:

I would just watch it. It will likely heal, but might be knocked out of symmetry with the other. :/

That's one thing I noticed yesterday...that it didn't look even! It was a tad lower than the other but I didn't know if it had been like that previously and I'd never noticed, or it was a result of the injury. 

[treatlisa]

Most likely a result of the injury.

His horns are pretty short, but we used to set larger broken horns with plaster of paris casting material... Don't know if that is something you want to try, but it might give you a chance to choose a better direction for it to grow. The plaster will wear off on its own eventually. If it is important to you, your vet could probably help with it, but it is actually simple to do if you can restrain him enough. It is sore so he won't be very compliant.

[lew92]

Several years ago, we had a steer that broke his horn. It was bleeding profusely, so we called the vet, then waiting 4 hours until he was able to get out, as it was lambing season. The vet took off both horns and cauterized the bleeders, but the steer nearly went down during the process. If he'd gone down, I'm sure we would have lost him.

If it isn't bleeding a lot, I'd try treatlisa's recommendation of the plaster.

[Applelonia]

No bleeding today. I let him outside under close supervision for a while - he was playing and investigating the deep fluffy new snow. Otherwise, I locked him up in the stall most of his day where I could check him often. When ever I put my hand out he skidders back and won't let me touch him. He was laying down once, right inside the stall door and I got close and gently touched his good horn - he bolted up and away from me. He's always been friendly and easy to work with until now.

When I look at him from the back the horns are not even. Wonder if they might adjust themselves naturally ...I remember Dazzy had horns that looked like a goat when I got her at eight months old - one was going backwards but they slowly turned and grew perfectly even and forward. But maybe an injury is different. I couldn't set them on my own. My husband does not work with the cows - he'll pet them from over the stall door/fence on the rare occasion but he is afraid of them, even the calves. The vet might help but he's been trying to get me to dehorn all of them ...I suspect he'd want to dehorn him....not try to save the horn....

[lew92]

The one good thing about it is the time of year - no flies to worry about.

It will be interesting to see how it develops, whether it heals or if it continues to be problematic. Be prepared for it to bleed if he bumps it again.

Poor guy - it must be like a deeply torn fingernail, I would imagine.

[grassfed]

Right after I got our steer he injured his horn similarly the outside came off and has re grown. If I remember I will try to take a picture of his horns to show you. It happened in June when he was 4 months old.

[grassfed]

The horn on his left side is the one that was injured. It more rounded but growing.

[dexterfarm]

He should be ok may or may not be noticeable as the horn grows. worst case the horns will not match.

[Debbie Lincoln]

Here is a photo of a neighbor's LongHorn steer who injured his horn at a very young age...he is in his 20's now.

[missevelyn]

First off, you shouldn't beat yourself up because Walter gave himself the childhood equivalent of a bloody nose.

Second, it's not fly season, he'll heal and whether he goes for a bull or a steer, the cosmetics of one horn don't really matter.

My darling husband who raised cattle all his life often would shorten (either with a pair of branch loppers or a hack saw) a new steer's horns to remind him not to abuse the smaller cattle in the pen. By the time they healed, they also knew him as a the bringer of sweet feed and forgave him utterly.

You're a dear person and if I were a cow, I'd want to be one of yours, I'd live better than I do as a human. But this injury is a long way from his heart, again, don't beat yourself up.

Regina

[Applelonia]

Dec 12, 2016 19:53:22 GMT -5 missevelyn said:

You're a dear person and if I were a cow, I'd want to be one of yours, I'd live better than I do as a human. But this injury is a long way from his heart, again, don't beat yourself up.

Regina

Thank you for those kind words ....I work very hard to make sure the cows are well taken care of. Sometimes I think I spend too much time and effort but they seem to like their charmed bovine life.  They are sweet, affectionate, friendly cows and I think part of their behavior towards me is because of the care they receive. All they know is a pampered life. I remember when Daffodil was just over a year old and she was in rain for the first time in her life....prior to this, she would always want to stay in her stall when it was raining or would come sprinting back from the pasture when there were sprinkles. One of the rare times she was locked outside overnight, we got a random storm ....I woke up and went to the barn immediately. Daffodil was ducking and trying to avoid the falling rain mooing and looking distraught. She was darting around trying to figure out where to go and trying to hid behind Dazzle. I opened her stall door, she made a beeline for me and pushed up next to me licking me. I admit it's probably not the best thing to have such bovines....

App waits for the last late evening cow check - she'll be standing in the same spot at her stall door each night watching the walk-through barn door and waiting for me. She gets her ear, chin and brisket scratch, water changed and freshened, new hay and her sleeping area gets fluffed and tended to. Walter has caught on to the routine. He watches as I add bedding and get his spot ready before he plops himself down...I'll pat him and give him a scratch. "Night, night Wally." And he looks at me with his soft calm big eyes and licks me and I realize that this clean, comfy stall will be filthy in the morning - filled with patties and wet spots and the day of never ending working will restart. And that thought of that work makes me happy! 

[Tamara]

My baby girl Nimue (who is actually turning a year old this month!!) tore the tag out of her ear a few months back and it looks so nasty, tore clean through half her ear right out the edge. It had stopped bleeding and was scabby by the time I found it but she didn't want to me to touch it or clean it up at all so I left it at that. It healed amazingly quickly, a week later it was like it hadn't even happened, except she now sports a quirky torn ear. I think I felt worse about it than she did. It's easy to forget how resilient they are.

How old is Walter? His buds might still be not fully attached at that age, which is probably how he got it injured like that. Poor little guy!

[lew92]

It is so good that we are all able to care for our cows in a way that satisfies us on a personal level. We are all so far out of the norm already with just keeping a cow or two or several. We just don't fit within the box of even the small commercial dairy farmer that people just don't get what our lives are about.

This community is so important for that very reason - we can come here and talk about our cow keeping quirks and not get odd reactions.

And yes, if I believed that I would come back as a cow, I'd sign up early for a spot at Applelonia's place!

[grassfed]

Dec 28, 2016 1:45:27 GMT -5 Applelonia said:

The cracked area area starts at the top and goes all along the back and wraps down to the bottom. So basically half appears normal - half badly cracked. 

Is there any hope of the crack fusing together and growing a normal horn - I'm guessing not? It doesn't look proming   Should it be removed now? If he's kept or sold for beef would it be okay to leave it or will it most likely, since it's weakened, be a cause of problems in the future? 

At least he never lost his appetite during this whole ordeal...still growing like a weed. He's 4 1/2-months-old and just over 42 inches at the shoulder.

Poor Walter.

Not sure of the outcome. When Porter our steer had this happen, the day after it was injured the top portion came off entirely. The picture I posted previously is how it regret.

[Applelonia]

grassfed , When you say the top portion came off - do you mean the whole outside sheath of the horn or just the tip? In your pictures the horn looks normal. 

[marseydoats]

I don't know if Walter's "nubbins" are enough horn to use a horn protector,

www.amazon.com/Classic-Equine-Clear-Vision-Horn/dp/B003R2NTNI

The ones I've always seen used were made of heavy leather and rawhide, this one seems to be man-made.
Years ago, a team roper came in the vet's office frantic because he had borrowed some Corriente steers to practice on, and half broken one of their horns. He thought the guy he borrowed them from was going to kill him (he didn't use the horn protectors, it was his fault) Vet told him to gorilla glue the horn back, wrap it in duct tape, put the horn protectors on, and keep him quiet for 2 weeks. It re-attached, I don't know if they used him for roping anymore or not.
I don't think Walter will care whether it grows back or falls off, either way.
Don't beat yourself up over it, we can't keep them in a plastic bubble as much as we'd like to.

[grassfed]

Dec 28, 2016 8:55:29 GMT -5 Applelonia said:

grassfed , When you say the top portion came off - do you mean the whole outside sheath of the horn or just the tip? In your pictures the horn looks normal. 

The outside sheath came off.