We've been having trouble the last few months with little black ants attacking the eyes of our newborn calves, randomly throughout the paddocks. I think they're attracted to the moisture on the newly born calves as they swarm all over them but really get stuck into their eyes. I've found several babies with big swollen eyes, blind as a bat. Its almost impossible to pick all the ants out. I've been watching one calf and he stayed blind for about a month. His eyes went milky blue, then a horrible cream colour, and that has slowly got smaller and smaller. I saw him on a watering point for the first time since he was born and he can see again. Today hubby alerted me to a little bloke sitting out in the paddock, he was so eaten up and distressed by the ants, I brought him home. No sign of a mother anywhere around. These are not the big red meatants, which also abound in this country, just little tiny vicious black fellas. They must have some sort of poison to cause the blindness. Nothing we can do about it - you can't put Antrid on thousands of acres!
Ant attack!
- Thread starter jilleroo
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Isomade, occasionally I've come across a newborn calf being swarmed by ants but never to this extent and over such a wide area of the place. I saw another calf stumbling along beside his mother this morning, both eyes bunged up, blind as a bat. The bloke I picked up yesterday can't see anything, his eyes are going milky blue now - they look dead - but hopefully they will recover after some weeks. Maybe the ants are a sign of the big wet coming!
wbvs58
Well-known member
You don't think the calves have been a bit crook first? The ants usually keep off animals that are fairly vibrant. I would think the blue is purely just the irritation from the ants and possibly a bit of rubbing in the dirt producing a keratits and drying of the surface. Certainly a bit unusual. Yep I think it is a sure sign of a big wet.
Ken
Ken
No Ken, the calves are fresh newborn, just hit the dirt, when they attack them. Its the moisture and the afterbirth that brings them. Good big strong calves otherwise. Their eyes water terribly and swell. Will take a pic of this one here tomorrow.
hillrancher
Well-known member
Jilleroo, I think the aunts are causing pink-eye as fescue seed does here to our cattle.
would treat as pink-eye , see if it worked.
would treat as pink-eye , see if it worked.
Yes Hillrancher, that's pretty right, it is blight caused by the ants but it is worse because their eyes get full of dead ants which continue the irritation! I can't get all the dead ants out of the eyes of the little bloke I've got in the stable - he is in a real state. His eyes are swollen up full of pus every morning - there's still dead ants coming out of the many folds and creases in his eye lids. I'm bathing his eyes in salty water and have given him antibiotics. Any more suggestions as to what I can do? I think I might put the RAU Immobiliser on him so that I can do a thorough clean-up - its very painful for him. I don't think putting a patch over would help too much as his eyes are very wet and mucky. The eyeballs are a dead milky blue-white colour now. Hubby was horrified when he came to check him out.
I've been looking for one particular paddock calf who was a few weeks further down the track than this fellow, to see whether he has regained some sight. I saw him 10 days ago and he stepped over a tree root which made me think he can see a bit now. He was just as bad as this one. As always, time will tell the story.
I've been looking for one particular paddock calf who was a few weeks further down the track than this fellow, to see whether he has regained some sight. I saw him 10 days ago and he stepped over a tree root which made me think he can see a bit now. He was just as bad as this one. As always, time will tell the story.
We had a problem with foxtails (the pointy segmented kind) in the cows eyes. The neighbor had some stuff that was a topical anethestic in a squirt bottle. We would squirt it in the eye and wait a couple of minutes then reach in around the eyeball with a finger or a swab and clean the stuff out. You might try to find something like that.
Calfie still can't see a thing. His eyes have changed a lot though. Now he's down to a pink spot in the middle of each eye like blight. Hopefully he'll improve over the next couple of weeks and start to regain some sight. Nothing wrong with his appetite though and he's very lively. Senepol x calves are fun little guys to raise on the bucket/bottle - you'd better be able to run quick and be able to withstand a good bunting - lots energy and personality!
TravisWolford
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Ants are easy to get rid of, you should talk to your local pest control guy about an ant program. Termidor will kill every ant around, and yes its labled for ants. You put a barrier down all around the areas you want the ants gone from and when they cross it it gives them a virus which they take back to the colony and they all die. Probably the single most effective chemical available for ant control. But it has to be purchases and applied by a liscensed pest control agent.
cow pollinater
Well-known member
Beneficial nemetodes will knock the crud out of ant populations naturally but take a while to kick in. It could also be fairly expensive in a big pasture.
What would it take to put a little moisture out in your calving pasture to keep them off the calves? I don't know about ants but alot of insects prefer a set water source and will travel further for a known, constant source of moisture rather than seek something closer so it could be as simple as a few drippy faucets.
What would it take to put a little moisture out in your calving pasture to keep them off the calves? I don't know about ants but alot of insects prefer a set water source and will travel further for a known, constant source of moisture rather than seek something closer so it could be as simple as a few drippy faucets.
