General's Mani-Pedi

It has been a good couple of weeks here at the farm.  We have received a little rain, which is always appreciated, and the cows are fat and happy.  Our #2 cow is especially round, as she is expecting a calf sometime soon. Based on the size of her, it should be sooner rather than later, but she’s keeping it a secret so far.  

There is other news in the bovine department, though.  When we arrived at the farm a couple of weeks ago, we noticed that General, our Hereford bull, looked like he was wearing elf shoes.  The tips of his front hooves were beginning to overlap and turn up at the tips, and he was favoring his right front foot.

That’s not a good thing, When an animal’s hooves grow too long, it can cause lameness.  Just think overgrown or in-grown toe nail…only on feet almost as large as a dinner plate.  Something needed to be done sooner rather than later, so we made an appointment with our vet for General to have a larger-than-life mani-pedi!

So Tuesday was the day.  Rue helped move the cattle from the pasture to the working pens, where we lured them in with range cubes and separated General from his family.  

We loaded him into a stock trailer and one of our neighbors, Sue Lee, hauled him to L & L Veterinary Clinic in Hamilton so that Dr. Josh Lackey could treat him.  While we were there, General had several procedures scheduled, including a “breeding soundness test.”  (He passed!) 

The procedures required him to be immobilized, and for a 1500+ pound animal, that’s not simple.  General is a trooper, though.  He walked calmly into the hydraulic squeeze chute and was secured so he couldn’t hurt himself.  

 

Then the chute was rotated so that he was on his side and his four enormous feet were accessible, and could be secured for the procedure.

Dr. Lackey went to work to grind and smooth the edges of his hooves, taking as much care as any manicurist working on a movie star.  While working on General’s right front foot, Dr. Lackey discovered the reason he had a slight limp.  The hoof was cracked and had an abscess.  You can see the dark area on the foot Dr. Lackey is working on.

Poor General, Dr. Lackey had to open the abscess and drain it, remove the dead tissue and treat the infection.  He even got color on his toes, though we didn’t get to pick it.  The disinfectant applied after his mani-pedi was a lovely shade of green.

General tolerated the procedure without complaint, and was soon wearing a large bandage to keep the medication in and the dirt out.  

And to add insult to injury, then he had to tolerate being branded…not something fun for any animal, but important to mark him as belonging to us and to deter anyone who might want to steal him. 

General will stay at the clinic for several days for treatment, but we hope he will be back in the pastures with his family in a couple of weeks.  They miss him and so do we.