Bald around the eyes.

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Toby L.

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:mad: :mad: I just spent the last 45 minutes writing this up and when I reviewed it, something wasn't right, so I hit the back button and it said the webpage has expired and I lost everything. :mad: :mad: I'm not going to do it all over again, so here are the details.

9 month old bull calf rubbing hair off of his eyes.

I'm feeding him 5 pounds of ground corn and free choice hay daily, no minerals for about 3 weeks, but that will change tomorrow when I get more feed mixed up.

No vaccines, no wormer. I used pour on with the calf that's in the same pen and she's fine.

The other cow's are itching and scratching more, I contributed that to warmer weather.
My wife's friend gave us a horse that has rain rot, and it's been running with the cows for a couple months now, but I don't think that's what's wrong with this one because it hasn't had contact with the bull calf, and I'm not sure if rain rot is transferable to cows.

I included a picture of the hanging feed container that I use, I think his head is getting to big and is rubbing his eye's on it.

I don't want to spend a $100 to have a vet come out to tell me to use a different feed container and rub bag balm on his eye's. I was thinking today that if it wasn't for this website, I would have to go ask my neighbors that have had cows for many years. Then I would have to call a vet, :) I just think that it's something so simple that I'm overlooking it.

I just get so mad because I spent so much time with that post that I wrote up earlier, getting all the fact's strait, and spell checking everything, and making sure my grammar was correct, and bringing up some good thoughts about some thread's of the past, and blaa, blaa, blaa, blaa. :)
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kenny thomas":1gl2xq7x said:
I think it is ringworm. Fungus and not a worm though. Search ringworm for post on how to take care of it. can spread, even to you.
That's what it was looking like to me, when I was viewing some pictures on here a couple of months ago, but I wasn't sure.
 
Looks an awful lot like ringworm to me, and thats a common pattern for them to get it (around the eyes)

Yes, it can spread to humans so if he's friendly and likes a scratch I'd avoid touching that area, and dont let him rub his head on you either. When you treat him, wear gloves.

There are a few different treatments; the thing I have found works best is a human anti-fungal cream from the chemist - any type, it doesnt matter. Funny thing was, we used to use anti-fungal cream for a woman's rather delicate area ... but anyway it worked really well on the steers. You can also use toothpaste (spread it on really thick) or iodine. Or you can just leave it be, in time it will sort itself out, it tends to be an adolescence thing and they grow out of it.

If you use the same facility for other calves, its a good idea to disinfect his feed bucket (with our steers they were show calves so we disinfected their halters and brushes once they were slaughtered). Also, be prepared for his pen mate to get it at some point as well.

I know your pain about your post being 'eaten'. Its happened to me many times before
 
That's ringworm. Isolate the animal from all others and don't touch it without wearing disposable gloves or you'll get it too. :cowboy:
 
Yup, what the folks above say...looks like ringworm to me too. Slather the anti fungal cream on it for about 7 to 10 days and it should go away.
 
Good, that's what I was hoping it was, I just wanted to make sure. Don't You think though if he has it, wouldn't the other cows have it, it had to come from somewhere? He's not really one that I can pet or scratch very much, how would I know if I had it? Maybe I gave it to him. :) I tried to do a search on the subject, but it seems that everytime I try, the search engine is down. Thanks everyone. ;-)
 
Just because one has it does not mean all of them will, but they could. I have one in a group of 120. I usually only see it in smaller calves (300lb or so) but any size could have it.
 
I did some shearching and found some more info on the topic. That got me thinking, some of the older cows have little bald spots on them, and they've been scratching. Is ringworm just isolated to younger animals? Now my wife figure's that her horses have it and we got into a big argument about it. She said that the horses had it about 10 years ago, and it was treated by something that we put into there grain. That was then, this is now. For now I'll treat the infected animals with whatever anti-fungal ointment or spray the I find. We have the vet comming out in a couple of week to do the cognin's on the horses and I'll have him look at everything and give his opionion on the situation then.
 
An earlier question, you'll get dried looking scaly spots that itch like crazy if you get it. Even wearing gloves, always wash your hand before touching any part of your body. Probably before touching your clothes too, but the parts of the body part I can attest to.
 
It's ringworm. Use buffered iodine. Get him in a head gate and spray it on thick. I've heard to not get it in the eyes. Seems like ring worm is often around the eyes. I haven't noticed a problem when iodine gets in their eyes. Ringworm is contagious, spreads easily from one calf to another, but does not normally effect mature cattle. VERY rare in humans. Wearing rubber gloves is OK. If you take and rub the iodine in good with your hands is the best way to get the job done with one treatment. If you don't want to treat it, it will go away most likely by itself when the new Spring hair comes in.
 
Thanks guy's for the good advise. I picked up some anti-fungal foot cream yesterday and smeared it around his eye's and on a bald spot on his head. The other calf thats in with him had some bald scally spots on it's forhead and behind it's ears so I speared some on her too. I've got an older cow in an other pen that had some bald spots on her rump and I treated her too. I think I'll treat them tomarro with the rest of the tub, and if that doesn't do it, the spring weather will.
 

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