Steers receive chiropractic care

[dominiquer60]

I have been a little frustrated this summer working my steers. The off steer walks “too fast” and the near one “too slow,” to the point where I am constantly picking on one or the other or both if I can manage to do so. I try to motivate the near steer and he responses and tries to keep up but certainly works much harder at it than his brother. Other training issues have reared their ugly heads, balking, chain jumping, and being difficult turning. At some point it seems like the near steer has become foot sore and can’t handle the gravel driveway well. I tried venice turpentine to toughen his feet and after working them I have even used poultice in an attempt to reduce any inflammation that may cause this “soreness.”

Before this frustration really started to build I met some really great people last summer at the horse shows that I work at. They are both chiropractors and they follow the horse shows in the northeast during the summer, this is especially handy for the riders, horses, grooms, braiders, etc that also have to travel with the shows. This May while being adjusted we started talking about my team of steers and they thought that working cattle are neat and told me about a study that they did in Virginia. This couple was hired to do chiropractic adjustments on a group of dairy cows that were run down and not milking much at all. The cows were not very willing at first but within a few visits they started seeking the chiropractors out when they visited the barn, and the cows also became sounder and started milking better. This intrigued me and even though my steers are young and not run down Holsteins I asked if they would ever be willing to work on my team. This challenge excited the couple and they agreed to add working cattle to there list of animals that they adjust.

Since I am right off the path between Troy, NY and Bennington, VT we decided that while they were traveling that route to the Dorset horse show anyway, it would be a convenient time to visit with my steers. Once I saw that my near steer was not comfortable walking, this visit could not come soon enough. They arrived this morning at 7:30.

The woman was immediately drawn to my near steer and though usually a little weary of strangers he accepted her contact with no resistance. They touched, stretched, pushed on and analyzed until they were satisfied with their first attempt. I walked Abe off with a different look in his eye, and though conformation wise he will never have a great stride, he now had a more comfortable stride, and it improved with every step as he got used to the fact that his discomfort had improved. It turns out that his pelvis was a little twisted and having been there done that myself, it is no wonder that he was the “too slow” steer, shooting pain down the leg with every stride makes it difficult to move gracefully.

They tweaked Abe a bit then worked out a few kinks on Will and put my ankle back on straight before I sent them off with some vegetables and a check (they were kind to give a working animal discount to me). I had to get back to harvesting vegetable for the farmers market so I brought my steers back to their shed and yard, and for the first time in a couple months Abe was able to keep up with and match Will stride for stride. During evening chores he was more willing to move backwards and to the side. I am looking forward to working them Monday to see how they move in the yoke together, I hope that we are on a better path and that some of these “training” issues were really just “discomfort” issues.

Has anyone else utilized a chiropractor with their draft animals? I realize that it is not in every ones budget to try this. I feel fortunate that I was able to scrape together enough for this visit, however I don’t plan on them making a habit of it either:)

[sanhestar]

Hello,

this is a great story.

I’ve used a chiropractor years ago for a packgoat that got hurt badly after a fall over a fence (got caught, flipped over and landed on his back stuck between young trees, laying there for quite a while maybe hours) resulting in a neck trauma. She brought him instant relief.

This year I got a chiropractor to work on the young mare we bought a few weeks earlier. I noticed that she didn’t move her pelvis equally on both sides and she confirmed that she has a slightly twisted pelvis due to a long lameness (deep hoof abscess) while she was younger. She may have to have regular checks once every year but I think we can manage that when these checks will keep her in a good working shape.

[dominiquer60]

I have been meaning to write a followup about our progress since the chiropractic visit, so here goes.

I don’t regret spending the money one bit. My near steer Abe is a whole new animal. He still lags a little on rough ground, but I think that his front feet are honestly slightly more tender than his brothers. When I get them out on sod or soil now he is the one that I have to ask to slow down.

I brought them to my county fair and to the DAPNet Annual Gathering and they did really well in both situations. At the fair we would take the stone boat all the way down to the trailer parking area to get hay and straw for the day and we generally found something new to deal with every morning.

This past weekend I had the chance to do different work with them at the gathering that I don’t have the opportunity to try at home, mostly because of the lack of this type of work or patient help at home. So we challenged them with a couple bigger logs and gave them plenty of light ones in between, they did really well for their age. We also plowed 2 furrows with my little plow, it was certainly a big pull for them, they had lots of breaks and it was a team effort to get the plow adjusted and working well. The next day they pulled a cultipacker over a patch of ground that was seeded to oats for a cover crop. We had a bratty moment or two but overall I couldn’t have asked them to have been any better. They slept a lot the next day and are happy, healthy and completely sound.

One interesting thing that I learned is that Abe’s pelvis is one of his conformational flaws and predisposes him to soundness issues as well as a less than ideal gate. A woman present at our “Ox Talk” is a former dairy cattle judge and did a really good job explaining this to the group, I certainly learned a lot.

So now they are the sound ones and I am the lame one with a heel spur, if it tames down later I am sure that they will be up to the task of moving some hay and manure.

[CharlyBonifaz]

One interesting thing that I learned is that Abe’s pelvis is one of his conformational flaws and predisposes him to soundness issues as well as a less than ideal gate.

extremely curious on that one, can you try to explain?

[dominiquer60]

In dairy judging lingo the hip bones are called the hooks and the protruding bones on either side of the tail are the pins. Here is a reference diagram, http://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualfarm/dairy/dairy_cow.html. In this diagram the cow’s hooks are slightly higher than the pins and this used to be ideal. From my recollection of this weekend this configuration of the pelvis is conducive to an easier birth due a downward sloping birth canal.

Of course modern show trends have driven humans to fiddle with genetics to make the hooks and pins almost level in a quest for a straighter top line. So there are a number of animals that have started to shift the other way with pins being higher than the hooks. This uphill (from the fetuses point of view) slant of the pelvis makes birth more difficult and puts a strain on all of the tendons, ligaments and joints from there downwards toward the hooves, basically setting the rear legs off balance from the hip down.

My off steer is closer to level with a tendency to have the hooks higher and has a fairly nice steady stride, but my near steer Abe with the bad pelvis (pins tending to be higher than his hooks) really has to work at moving out, his legs twist with every stride and he is less fluid (graceful) than his brother.

The chiropractor mentioned that some cattle get a little twisted in the birth canal and just need some help to straighten out, some get out of place from trauma and some are prone to becoming misaligned from flaws in confirmation. My hopes are that it will not take more than a visit every year or two to keep Abe sound and moving as comfortably as possible.

Interestingly I learned that our chiropractor has a chiropractor friend in Iowa who works on horses and show cattle, there is never enough time in her week to get to all of the cattle, she has had to turn many customers away. These are the type of cattle farms that have air conditioned barns for show beef cattle that travel all over the country. So I guess working on cattle is nothing new, just not practiced much here in the northeast.

[CharlyBonifaz]

thanks for elaborating

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