Management plan:

The fracture will not heal as long as the area is infected.  First it will be 
necessary to control the infection.  This will be accomplished using  
Amoxicillin and Gentamycin because of the lower price of these drugs than the 
cephalosporins.  Price is important since this is an animal whose usefulness 
depends on the profit he can make for a farmer.  Even slight price differences 
will make a large impact because of the length of time the antibiotics will need 
to be used.  The antibiotics will be given for the entire period of fracture 
healing.  Also the necrotic ends of the bone will need to be surgically debrided 
to allow healing to take place. While the area is opened up surgically we will 
also place an internal fixation device, since contaminated fractures heal poorly 
with external fixation in large animals.  Because of the gap that was created by 
the bone ends necrosing away it is necessary to use a lengthening plate to 
provide partial support for the calfŐs body weight.  As the calf grows this 
alone will not be able to support the entire weight of the calf.  An outer cast 
will also provide partial support for the fracture.  The calf should be confined 
so as not to put excess stress on the fixation devices. The fracture will 
probably require at least 60 days to heal because of the complicating factors of 
infection and atrophy of the bone.  The prognosis is fair to poor depending on 
how rapidly the calf is able to respond to treatment.  Because the use of this 
animal for natural breeding will require him to become completely sound on the 
affected leg, we will also offer the owner the chance to cull the calf now 
before any treatment has been instituted.  His increased value depends on him 
being used for breeding, and if this is not going to be possible after treatment 
the owner would just be wasting money.  The outcome depends on the fracture site 
healing before the supporting devices give way as the calf increases in size.  
After the antibiotics have been started the calf will have no value if culled 
because of the withdrawal period of the drugs. Depending on the value of the 
genetics of this particular bull, another option for the farmer would be to use 
the bull in an artificial insemination program on his farm.  AI is not commonly 
used in beef animals, and the bull if not sound would not be able to be on a 
national AI registry.  But the farmer could use his genes to breed a suitable 
replacement animal that is completely sound and could be sold or used on his 
farm for natural breeding.