Vet visit

The cow with the limp seemed to be worse on Wednesday.  She would lift her front leg leg and shake it around.  No... she was not doing the "Hokey Pokey".  I was afraid she got an abscess like the other cow last year.

Today I took her to the vet. Dan came over this morning to help me load her into my stock trailer.  Even though it was snowing lightly, it couldn't have gone any smoother.  The herd walked straight outside the corral when I herded them. Buddy the bull followed right along.  The cow walked over to the gate Dan was manning, then walked over to the loading corral gate, then into the stock trailer.  I barely had to herd her.

The loading went so smooth we were at the vet's place 20 minutes early.

Getting the cow into the vet's squeeze chute was trickier as she didn't know where to go.  There were extra open gates and an open door and she went in all of those.  Let's try it again.  This time with all the extra gates and doors closed she easily walked into the squeeze chute.  She even lifted her leg when the vet reached down.  He commented she was better than many horses.

No signs of an abscess.  The right side of her front left hoof is a little longer than the left side of the split.  That right side was tender in spots.  The vet thinks the cow made have stepped on something with just the longer section of hoof and may have strained or (hopefully not) torn a tendon or something.

The vet trimmed the longer part of the hoof to match the other part.  He could fashion a wooden block as a temporary shoe but that would work better in the Spring or Summer than Winter.  We will let her be and most likely it will heal in a few weeks.  It is possible that even after the injury heals she may have alight limp.  Time will tell.

The vet gave me some powdered aspirin to give her.  I am to mix it with a little grain and feed it to her twice a day for a short time.

After I put the cow back into the part of the corral with the calves - since the herd was already outside the corral - I pulled another hay bale into the corral.   Between the pallet being slightly frozen to the ground, and the snow on the ground under the pickup's wheels, it took several running starts to get the bale and pallet to move.  Once they did move I was able to continuously pull it into the corral.  I needed all four wheels of the four wheel drive.

Who needs a tractor when you have a four wheel drive pickup?

Daisy wasn't ready to come outside in the morning when I took the cow to the vet.  When I moved the hay bale she was there to 'help'.  Here she is inspecting the placement of the bale.

The remaining large bales.

The herd patiently waiting outside the corral.

I put the last of the previous bale into the two wooden feeders.  Here the cattle are checking out the feeders with the 'new' hay.  Momma - being one of the smarter cattle - quickly moved on to the large bale.

Buddy the bull.  The red heifer behind him is a large heifer.

Winter scene at the ranch.