A brief description of a lump, a few words to follow and then silence. The pause was waiting for me to give the solution to the problem. The problem was a swelling on a three-month-old heifer calf that had been purchased four weeks previously.

That swelling must be an infection and surely an injection will clear it up?

The swelling turned out to be right at the navel and wasn’t that simple.

We have all come across a calf a few days or a week old with a hard, painful swollen navel and temperature that could have a navel infection.

It can get a little trickier when we see older calves with navel swellings.

This phone call was from a friend in relation to one of his calves having a swelling and he wanted a solution that was injectable if at all possible.

The problem with an older calf with a navel swelling is that it can be one of three things:

  • A hernia where fat or a piece of gut has slipped through the body wall into the sac.
  • An abscess, which can be a walled-off sac full of pus (bacterial infection).
  • The calf is sometimes swollen from cross-suckling.

    • It is important in older calves to differentiate between the first two. I always place calves on their backs, sitting up, before feeling the sac. You can sometimes push hernias back up and feel the size of the hole. Abscesses tend to be hard and when a needle is inserted, you can pull back pus.

    Intervention

    Small hernias usually require no intervention if the hole and swelling are small, but some may require a stitch to more advanced surgery to stop them from getting bigger.

    The true navel abscess usually requires drainage and your vet can lance them and flush with salty water for a few days.

    I found penicillin and painkillers worked well for these cases, with some fly pour-on close to but not on the wound.

    The most important part was drainage, keeping it clean, and fly control during the summer.

    We have a habit of wanting to always solve problems with injections and this is not the right attitude.

    It is always good to talk about these unusual cases with your vet and see what the best option might be.