In the last article I started a series on foot problems and lameness in cattle. We covered regular foot rot and basic anatomy. Let’s move on to a common lameness in dairy cattle, and one seen once in a while in beef cattle, hairy heel warts. This is an infection caused by a Serpien species of bacteria. It is found in wet and nasty conditions, commonly in manure. This bacterium invades the heels of the rear feet, commonly causing strawberry-looking lesions with hair growing out of them. Hence, the name hairy heel warts. Others have also called it strawberry foot rot.
Hairy heel warts will erode the hoof off of the foot from the heel forward. This will actually put the cow on the ground and eventually kill her. Recognizing this infection, and implementing early treatment will solve the problem. Normally this is treated by properly balancing the feet with a trim first, then gently trimming off some of the protrusions of the warts and packing and wrapping with a tetracycline paste. On severe cases, we have had to change the wraps at one-week intervals two to three times. On dairies, most dairymen mix up a gallon of tetracycline water in a sprayer and spray all of their cows' feet twice a day for four days out of each month. It will also help to spread Ag lime in the cows' lots once a month. The lime will change the pH of the dirt and not let the bacteria grow.
Another problem here in northwest Arkansas is sole ulceration. This normally happens due to flint rock, or other sharp penetrating objects found in the pastures. This presents as lameness and swelling above the hoof. Most clients will mistake this as regular foot rot. You must look at the bottom of the foot in order to see the insult. If allowed to go this infection can cause deep sepsis and infect the whole leg of the animal. If caught early, the abscess can be opened up and drained, packed and wrapped; the good toe will have a block glued on and systemic antibiotics can be used. Normally these animals will be walking sound within one to three weeks and the block will fall off.
If we do not catch this sole ulceration early, then we have deep sepsis. If it has not infected the bone in the hoof, we can do the same procedure and change wraps every other day, or daily depending on how severe. If the coffin bone is infected, then the only course for treatment generally is to amputate. This is a surgical procedure and you just amputate the infected toe. The cow is then salvaged and can survive on one toe on that foot for a certain amount of time. Prior to breaking down on the good toe, she would be sold or salvaged. But, I have had one-toed animals stay in the herd and function normally for up to one to two years. This makes the procedure worth it.
Another problem with cattle is laminitis. This comes from over-feeding. This is actually founder, just like in horses, but cattle are more pain resistant. The insult of laminitis will happen in hours in a horse, but in cattle it will happen six to 10 weeks later. This is a shut down of blood supply to the toe with inflammation in the lamina. The insensitive lamina starts separating from the sensitive lamina. This analogous to pulling your finger nails and toe nails off while downing finger tip pushups. The coffin bone inside the toe is tipping down and may come through the sole. Properly balancing the foot with trimming every two to six months will help to correct this problem. The toes grow at an accelerated rate putting the forces of the cow’s weight on the heel. With this added weight on the heel the toe grows even more, stretching the flexor tendons in the back of the leg. This soreness will go all of the way up to the back. To understand this stand on a step and drop your heels off the edge. You can feel how that pulls all the way up to your hips. The treatment is to balance the foot with a short toe and standing the foot up on the animal.
Dr. Tim O'Neill owns Country Veterinary Clinic in Farmington, Ark.
