On-Farm Techniques for Repair of Bovine Fractures

Abstract

Over the years little has been written regarding repair of fractures in large animals. Although cattle are often mentioned in articles (1,2,3,4,6,9) dealing with equine fractures, a search of the literature reveals only one article (7) dealing specifically or primarily with bovine fractures. Many factors have influenced the lack of fracture repair in the bovine. Fractures always involve soft tissue damage as well as boney damage. This soft tissue damage is often difficult to evaluate yet it plays an important role in the later healing of the fracture. In addition to hard and soft tissue damage, the mere size of the bones and animals involved often enters into the prognosis of fracture repair in the bovine animal.