Tail biting ?

[Bruce Almighty]

Last night a cow came in the parlour with her tail hanging by a thread.
About a week ago another cow came in with half of her tail missing.
I’ve never seen anything like it before.
We recently fitted a rotating cow brush & I suspected that but now I’m not so sure.
Tonight i noticed a dry heifer in a different yard and there was blood on the end of her tail and not much hair.

 

[kill]

Do you trim your cows tails ever? If not I'd start their.
What make of cow brush? Any sharp edges? Did you remove all plates as per instructions ? Reread the instructions for height etc

 

[Farmer Fin]

It won’t be cows biting tails. Your picture is not great. It’s most likely your brush if that is the only thing that has changed. Your dry cow may just have been trod on.
I have heard of people blaming badgers for this kind of thing but it nearly always mechanical trauma - scrappers etc.

 

[Bruce Almighty]

Do you trim your cows tails ever? If not I'd start their.
What make of cow brush? Any sharp edges? Did you remove all plates as per instructions ? Reread the instructions for height etc

Yes I try to keep tails a tidy length. I can't remember the make of brush but there are no sharp edges & the top is at 8' as the instructions say

It won’t be cows biting tails. Your picture is not great. It’s most likely your brush if that is the only thing that has changed. Your dry cow may just have been trod on.
I have heard of people blaming badgers for this kind of thing but it nearly always mechanical trauma - scrappers etc.

Sorry I know it's a poor picture, I will ask the vet tomorrow for advice. I hope it's not an animal of any sort doing it.
I use tail tapes & have seen cows pull them off occasionally, but I never put tapes on tight.
I had a cow back in the summer lose the end of her tail for no obvious reason, I regularly sprayed it with Terramycin & I think the stinging may have made her chew it more ?

 

[Bruce Almighty]

A better picture

 

[Plain steer]

A few years ago we were feeding our cattle potato waste and the cattle started biting one another’s tails off right at the very top got the vet out and he had seen nothing like like that before stopped feeding the waste potato and it all stopped but we still had 30 cattle going about with no tails which looked blooody treible

 

[Bruce Almighty]

Vet reckons it could be a fox.
Wound more consistent with a bite

 

[BELOWAVERAGE]

We had 4 or 5 very similar about a month ago over a period of 3 or 4 days, one came in every morning for several days looking like something had had a meal off her tail during the night, they've all healed and nothing since.

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

Had a heifer last year that lost its tail about half way after aborting. Guessing something chewed it off with the birthing fluid on it

 

[Lofty1984]

How popular is the brush with them? Could it be one particular cow is trying to bully them away from the brush to get under it by biting the tail? Just a suggestion

 

[Bruce Almighty]

How popular is the brush with them? Could it be one particular cow is trying to bully them away from the brush to get under it by biting the tail? Just a suggestion

Could be, they do like it ?