Traumatic horn damage

Me and Will and Abe have hit a little rough patch lately. Abe was lame for about 4-5 weeks with a toe abscess and now Will has lost the shell of his horn. I did not see what happened, 99% sure he was racking horns with Abe and they got tangled and Will’s horn got twisted off. Will has deeply curved horns turned in together in front of his forehead. Abe’s horns also curve in but then turn up at the ends so they are a little straighter. I think Abe got his horn over the top of Will’s in front and underneath in back. If he picked his head up like that the torque would be incredible and the shell would twist right off.

The odd thing is the same thing happened to Abe back in 2003 when he was 3 years old. They were in with some older and much larger steers that had horns that curved in and then forward and up. That happened in November. I had seen horn shell damage repair itself before so I just left it alone and it hardened over during the next several months. It hardened rough, shorter and narrower than the undamaged horn but I figured it was better than having only one horn. Over time it smoothed over and grew out from the base at the poll at the original diameter. It is now a couple inches shorter and does not quite match the undamaged horn near the end, but it is not readily apparent. Pictures of both Will and Abe and their damaged horns are included in the attached .pdf document.

This is clearly painful for the steer. It is basically exposed bone with a very copious blood supply. For a few days after this type of injury even the slightest bump will cause bleeding. They quickly learn to protect it and after a few weeks it will not be sensitive to touch. New shell material will form and it will also regrow from the poll, but that is a very long process, maybe 1 inch or so per year.

I am posting this because if it happens to your ox you will probably not get much help from your vet unless they have experience with oxen. Their training with horns is mainly in removing them and they may well suggest amputation in cases such as this. My experience is these problems can resolve themselves but it takes time. In the case of other horn injuries such as a crushing injury where the shell is attached but the interior is exposed the assessment might change based on the potential or occurence of infection. I do not expect infection to be a problem with Will, but I will be keeping a close eye on it.

A couple of the pictures in the pdf are painful to look at so open it at your own risk.