calf with broken back leg

Tomjim

drove over calfwith tractor last Sunday
rang vet who said nothing she could do as break was between hips and knee. vet said calf chances of survival were slim. put calf into sheep pen and feeding twice a day. no problems so far. calf is putting leg to ground no weight though. calf is hungry at feeding time and looks to be ok so far. what is the chances of calf surviving

Milked out

Tomjim wrote: »

drove over calfwith tractor last Sunday
rang vet who said nothing she could do as break was between hips and knee. vet said calf chances of survival were slim. put calf into sheep pen and feeding twice a day. no problems so far. calf is putting leg to ground no weight though. calf is hungry at feeding time and looks to be ok so far. what is the chances of calf surviving

If it can't put weight on it and there is a break the best thing to do would be call the knackery, it won't do as it grows so would be more humane for calf and cut your losses also.

High bike

Don't know if this helps but neighbour told me yesterday that he broke a calves leg with the calving jack don't know wher it's broken but vet put it in a cast and says he should come right.Maybe might be worth getting a second opinion,doctors differ and patients die

Tomjim

im wondering if the break was not a full break would it knit itself

Milked out

High bike wrote: »

Don't know if this helps but neighbour told me yesterday that he broke a calves leg with the calving jack don't know wher it's broken but vet put it in a cast and says he should come right.Maybe might be worth getting a second opinion,doctors differ and patients die

If it's below the knee a cast would do a job but if above it as OP stated it's more difficult.

Tomjim

Milked out wrote: »

If it's below the knee a cast would do a job but if above it as OP stated it's more difficult.

if it was not a clean break would that make any difference to the healing provess

Kovu

As in a fracture? The chances would be better alright but you're going to have to weigh up the pros and cons. You really need to have him nearly immobilised for six weeks and a cast/splint on it if possible. It'll be a lot of extra work for a possibility of it working.
You also have to take the wee calf's welfare into account, he's probably in quite a lot of pain. I'll ask Greysides to give his opinion.

greysides

If the calf is looking to feed at feeding time it suggests there's no internal damage to organs; also, that the pain isn't too severe. A fracture of the hip bone can't be cast, it would need pins/plating and that's not economical. On the positive side, fractures there usually do very well. The muscle mass goes into spasm and holds the ends of the bone steady. It wouldn't be as good as a cast so for several weeks the calf will have to minded so that the small healing bridges aren't continually broken. I would suggest a level concrete floor with clean straw kept cleaned out... no muck build-up. This avoids the leg getting caught in dung or being pulled over the top of it. Pain relief is awkward. It would seem the rationale thing but pain is protective. The available painkillers over time would constitute quite a bill and as said earlier he seems to be tolerating it well. I'd be positive about his outlook but how functionally lame he'll be after is unknown. Young calves heal well.

Future Farmer

I'd be positive, keep feeding him, see what happens.

Had a SI calf that shattered his shoulder a couple of years ago (think it was the bull). Old Hereford cow minded him to the best of her ability and he on made €150 less than his comrades at selling time which we were happy with in the grand scheme of things, vet had said there was no hope for him.

onyerbikepat

I had a calf injure his hip last year. Vet had a look at him. He just lifted his leg and listened to the joint. He said nothing he could do for him.
I hadnt it in me to put him down. He would run around the field after the other calves with both back legs moving together.
He went down in the yard over the winter so I let him out in the field and gave him some meal. He picked up again but both back legs very bowed now. Plan to factory him in the coming weeks, whatever he is worth.
Hard to put them down when they are young and showing some fighting spirit.