Follow your vet's recommended treatment, it's difficult to get rid of but the fact that you have been able to drain it is good. Lumpy jaw is a bacterial infection of the jaw bone of cattle. Lumpy jaw is seen more commonly in younger animals than older ones due to the association with erupting teeth, however it can occur in cattle of any age. In beef cattle we use the long-acting form which gives adequate levels for three days, which keeps the number of treatments down, he says.
Control strategy & Prevention of Lumpy Jaw– As the Actinomyces bovis is consisting normal flora of GIT and oropharynx in cattle, control of lumpy jaw focuses on avoiding coarse, poor quality stemmy feeds/hay or feeds with plant awns that might damage the mucosal U epithelium and allow entry of bacteria to soft tissue.
But when treating lumpy jaw, I personally only treat the animal if I can catch it early, and generally only if there is significant genetic value in that particular animal that makes it worthwhile to try.
It consists of a large unilateral abscess that grows on the head and neck of the infected animal, following dental disease and mandibular osteomyelitis. Lumpy jaw syndrome is well known by veterinarians, as it is frequent in cattle, swine, horses and dogs. There are two types of Lumpy jaw, one where bacteria infects the soft tissue of the mouth and the other the bone. They seem to appear out of nowhere, like grasshoppers Bony ‘Lumpy Jaw’ in Cattle Understanding cause and early detection of lumpy jaw increase chances of recovery success.
It is not directly fatal but most cattle suffering from the disease do fade away, and die from the effects of undernourishment. lumpy jaw: ( ak'ti-nō-mī-kō'sis ), A disease primarily of cattle and humans caused by the bacterium Actinomyces bovis in cattle and by A. israelii and Arachnia propionica in humans. Lumpy jaw is seen more commonly in younger animals than older ones due to the association with erupting teeth, however it can occur in cattle of any age. It would seem like your bull has the more serious infection...in his jaw bone. There are two kinds of “lumpy jaw.” Soft-tissue abscesses caused by embedded foreign bodies, such as sharp grass seeds, are easy to treat by lancing, draining and flushing. It is not directly fatal but most cattle suffering from the disease do fade away, and die from the effects of undernourishment. A significant source of frustration for ranchers is to find a lump on a cow’s jaw when looking over your cattle. It can affect either the lower or upper jaw but is most commonly seen on the lower jaw in the area of the cheek teeth. Story & photo by Heather Smith Thomas.