# frozen cattle ear question



## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

On a black Angus cow what would be the appearance of a cows ear that had frozen? Thanks


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Black and crusty. I know the color woulbd be hard to see on a black cow. It will look almost crispy. Perhaps with cracks and some bleeding. After a few days it will turn soft and very tender.

If it froze through, it will likely slough off.  Usually it is just the very tips of the ears.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Up here in zone 4, where it can stay well below zero for weeks, frozen ears isn't common. I can't imagine a cow in zone 7 suffering frrost bite.

If you think they have frozen the ear tips, keep an eye on it. As the skin sloughs off, you may need to treat to prevent infection.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

I have never seen a cattle ear that looks like the one I am asking about. From the outermost tip and going about half way toward the head in an area forming somewhat of a triangle the hair is falling out. The ear is a white crusty appearance. If you were to cut the ear off where the problem is it would be the entire outer 1/3+ of the ear. We did have some unusually cold weather and I saw a few of the cattle in the farm pond and I thought maybe the ear got wet and froze.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

I think it would be strange for a cows ear to freeze and not have small calves with frozen ears. Could it be ringworm?


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

agman, 
The frozen ears I've seen in the past look as you've explained. They start out looking like and extremely bad case of dry chapped skin on black cattle and then you see the hair lifting from it's folicles. Once the hair is gone you start to notice a darkening of the skin and tissue. Soon enough the dead tissue begins to shred as if it were caught in a fence and torn. Before long the tips of the cow's ear look like they've been shreded back to the point where the tissue is still alive. 

One cattleman I worked for in highschool would wait until it got to this point and then catch the cow's head in a headgate and use scissors to trim the ear back to the point of live tissue and then treat it with iodine and give the animal a shot of penicilin for protection against infection.


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## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

Never had any except new calves whose ear froze before they ever got dried off. Then, they just sort of shriveled back to the point where they didn't freeze and soughed off at that point. Never had a cow or even older calves freeze an ear.


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## farmerdan (Aug 17, 2004)

I have a 3 year old Lowline Angus cow whose ears were frost bitten when she was born. Her ears are misformed now with no hair on the outside edges. I had to NAIS tag her left ear because there wasn't enough ear on the right side.

Dan


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## SteveO (Apr 14, 2009)

Evening All,
How about a picture?

:cowboy:


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Any update on the ears agman?


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

francismilker
Yes, I have checked on the cow and it does appear that the end of the ear is atrophying. The cow does not seem to have any visible discomfort and is carrying on life as per usual. I have no true idea as to why the problem is with a single animal and on one ear only. I will continue to monitor her and post if there is a change. Thanks for your interests.


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