Let’s continue about lameness. Two topics we have not covered are white line disease and cork screw toes. White line disease is started with instability of the third phalanx or coffin bone in the toe. This is caused by many factors, including laminitis or founder. This laminitis is a separation of the insensitive lamina and sensitive lamina. The line between this lamina is called the white line. As we separate these two, a small space is allowed and dirt and debris get trapped causing an abscess. Most generally this is a mixed infection with a lot of fungus and/or yeast.
I have a cow in the clinic right now that has this problem with the abscess going all the way up the side of the heel. I have trimmed her foot up, cleaned out the abscess and blocked up the good toe. Today I will clean the abscess track out and take the sweat wrap off. Hopefully, she will feel a whole lot better about walking on this foot today. Upon presentation she was pretty much three-legged.
We have all seen the cow with elf shoes for toes. We have always wondered what causes this. Well, part of it is genetic due to the fact that the coffin bone and second pastern bone are not lined up perfectly. Normally this is on the outside toe of the rear feet. We can also have founder or laminitis cause this. Now, you might ask, how can a cow get foundered, I thought only horses had that? Well, look at our pastures in the spring. A lush growth of grass occurs in the spring with the rain. We can also see overfeeding with that show animal being pushed on feed or that bull at the feeding trial. I have also seen this happen with dairies and having an accident in the missing of the ration or tmr (total mixed ration). But, when a cow gets foundered it will not happen overnight like it does in horses, but will happen a minimum six to 10 weeks later. This is why it is hard to figure out what caused the overgrowth, because it did not happen last night or even last week, but two months ago.
Proper trimming on these cork screw toes is done by re-aligning the hoof wall with the ground and shortening the toe. Cows are made to walk on the bottom of the hoof wall. This is why they are cupped at birth. This style of trimming may have to be repeated every three months, two to four times, or until we get normal growth. On the genetic caused cork screw feet, you will have to trim every three to six months for the rest of their life. This is why it is unadvisable to keep these animals and their offspring in the herd.
Dr. Tim O'Neill owns Country Veterinary Clinic in Farmington, Ark.
