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Faunsdale, AL | Bad idea to put a large foreign object (cotton) into the open sinus following dehorning!
The process by which it would ever get out of there (rotting while creating a foreign body reaction) is not a good thing for the calf! If you wanted to have to catch and repeat the trauma of dehorning for the calf, you could pack the sinus with a strip of roll gauze that could be removed completely, but I would not do it. That would make a terrible chronic infection in the sinus if it was forgotten. If you want to do something, glue a cloth patch on with tag cement like folks do for pinkeye. That will reliably fall off in time with only the loss of a little hair.
Practiced at a vet clinic in the hills of Tennessee where it was standard procedure to cauterize the site, smear it with pine tar and then stick a wad of roll cotton padding OVER the hole. I believe it was mostly to make the owners feel good. Never saw a problem after I left there and quit doing that. I am sure that cotton covering didn't last much longer than it took to drive them back home from the clinic, but it didn't create a problem for the calves. | |
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