Franklin Vets
Franklin Vets - excellence in veterinary care for dairy, farming, lifestyle, equine and household pets. BESTPRACTICE ACCREDITED NZ.
The humerus is the bone between the shoulder and elbow, and these cattle present quite suddenly lame or not weight-bearing on a front limb. Often there is no associated trauma that the farmer is aware of. In this year’s outbreak, the heifers were bought in to form a new herd, and their nutrition and trace element supplementation from birth to 2-year-olds is unknown. As they moved from calving to the early part of mating, several heifers presented with fractures in the humerus. The problem seemed to ramp up after some heifers started to show heat behaviour, which put further pressure on already brittle bones.
Heifers with fractured legs often show things like growth arrest lines in the bones, thickened growth plates, and thinner weaker bones (osteoporosis), some even have old or poorly healed rib fractures. They have usually undergone a period of starvation or malnutrition, and minimal mineral supplementation during their first two years of growth which leads to poor-quality bones. These heifers then calve and head into lactation, pulling nutrients and calcium from their bones, further weakening them. After that, it doesn’t take much force to result in a fracture.
What can we do to prevent this?
Ensure feeding is adequate for their age and stage, and supplementation of trace elements is kept up to date. Liver copper is one trace element often found to be low in these affected heifers. Copper is vital to collagen formation in bones and must be supplied, usually via copper bolus as an R1 and R2, for optimal bone formation. Support calving heifers with calcium, magnesium, and trace elements to ensure they start their lactation off on the right foot.
Dr Gemma Withers BVSc - Kopu
Franklin Vets - excellence in veterinary care for dairy, farming, lifestyle, equine and household pets. BESTPRACTICE ACCREDITED NZ.
