Calf with bent tail

[Davy_g]

Folks, anyone any ideas, calf not a week old, tail severely bent in two kinks. I'm pretty sure I would break it if I straightened it.
Also trace of blood at the anus today.
Calf healthy, bright and thriving.
Cow calves herself.

I'm tempted to leave the tail alone, more concerned by the blood.

 

[rc mx110]

It scouring a bit?? Hence the blood

 

[Willy A]

I would leave the tail alone as well. Would not worry about the blood. It's something you would not normally see with a normal tail covering it.

 

[bovine]

Some genetic abnormality. I have seen them in association with other internal abnormalities (including atresia coli - where the gut is not joined up inside)

 

[Davy_g]

Some genetic abnormality. I have seen them in association with other internal abnormalities (including atresia coli - where the gut is not joined up inside)

Happy days Bovine, lol. I intend to let nature take it course while the calf is thriving.

 

[matthew]

Was the tail like this when the calf was born?
Or has mum put her girt big foot on it?

 

[Davy_g]

Like that when it was born I'm afraid.

 

[Willy A]

Could it have got squashed or broken inside cow and set that shape.

 

[Davy_g]

Could it have got squashed or broken inside cow and set that shape.

That's what I initially thought, then the blood threw me a bit. Time will tell. He could be a cheep bull for someone, out of my best cow too. Typical.

 

[Willy A]

If the first kink was not so far up I would have been tempted to gently splint the tail without breaking it to see if it would straighten through time.

 

[Wazmos]

How did the calf get on Davy _g? Had one tonight, looks exactly the same.View attachment 176200View attachment 176202

Folks, anyone any ideas, calf not a week old, tail severely bent in two kinks. I'm pretty sure I would break it if I straightened it.
Also trace of blood at the anus today.
Calf healthy, bright and thriving.
Cow calves herself.

I'm tempted to leave the tail alone, more concerned by the blood.

 

[swedish red]

Some genetic abnormality. I have seen them in association with other internal abnormalities (including atresia coli - where the gut is not joined up inside)

Had one exactly the same this April appeared to be otherwise healthy.
Ten days after it was born something ruptured internally, it passed a lot of blood and died.

 

[unlacedgecko]

I had one born in the autumn with no tail at all.

Grew well for 8 weeks, then sold as a pair.

 

[BAF]

Well thats clearly a Manx cow don't you know anything

 

[Dry Rot]

Kinked tail is quite common in dogs. Usually genetic though I couldn't guess in the OP's case. The tail can be straightened to a certain extent with daily massaging when still young which can obviously be worth doing in some breeds of dogs. And the "kink" can indeed extend the whole depth of the tail so the animal is self-docked. It seemed an idea to me to isolate the gene (like hornlessness in cattle and sheep) and selectively breed spaniels to get over the docking controversy! It was actually Pat McGettigan who told me about massaging a kinked tail to straighten it and I was surprised to find it does work. Slow and gentle is the way.

 

[Whitepeak]

We had a blue X heifer once with a kinked tail, it was almost looped right round like a pig.
Think we'd bought it as a calf and then sold it either store or finished. Didn't seem to do it any ill effects.

 

[ladycrofter]

Did you see it born? I came home to an obvious breech birth, tail broke. Left it alone, calf was fine after a few days thankfully out before she drowned.

 

[ollie989898]

Freezer job if it lives and thrives. With any kind of congenital fudge up, probably best not to breed from an animal with it in case it has something else more problematic in the genes that you can't see.

 

[Wazmos]

Seems to be doing ok, fingers crossed no deformities internally. It’s a bull so will probably go as a store, if not finished.