Can we Talk ?

[larryshoat]

About pinkeye that is . Wouldn't be cool if we could start a discussion on pinkeye and change the management practices, or at least bring to the forefront of the thinking of the cattle producers on this board and reduce the number of pinkeye cases this year .I would argue that when we have a pinkeye case that no one benefits from it, and that as an industry it's money left on the table that nobody gets .So, what do you think, can we do it ? What are your best practices to stop pinkeye, now, before it has a chance to rob us .

Larry

 

[jasrnch]

I vaccinate with Alpha 7 mb which has a pink eye vaccine in it. I've only had 1 case of pink eye since I started using it. Usually if I get a case of pink eye it's pretty bad at fall round up. Most of the time penn and dex wil clear it right up but not always.

 

[baxter78-2]

I vaccinate for pinkeye. Havent had a case of pinkeye in over 2 years.

 

[grannysoo]

Control the fly population.

 

[Jogeephus]

Control the fly population.

Those back rubs work good. I make my own panther piss for the rub using permethrin and diesel. Works better than store bought. Also but rub in the entrances to the watering areas so cows have no choice but to receive treatment.

Dust is another problem. Don't have a good solution with the drought.

Undergrazed millet and sorghum/sudan seems to pose a threat too.

Have considered vaccinations but I don't think it would be cost effective for me since I really don't have too much problem with it. Worst trouble was last year and I credit this problem to the factors listed above. I had a 1% infection rate and just treated individual animals. Crossbow sure came in handy for this.

 

[fitz]

Always try & keep good minerals in front of them. Start early spring with fly stop in minerals. Use the same as Jogeephus on back rubs & keep them charged. Cows will use them more than you think. Clip pastures when and where feasible. Lucky not to have neighbor's herd too close. Knock on wood, haven't had problems with Pink Eye for some years now.

 

[bandit80]

Alpha 7mb as well for the calves, and Ocu-guard MB-1 for the cows. Also fly tag cows and calves, and use a hand sprayer to spray pour-on on their backs starting around 4th of July. Pinkeye usually isn't a problem for me. If we have a dry summer and the brome stems get tough, I will see a few cases of pinkeye. My brother had an outbreak of pinkeye about 2 years ago. Weren't real sure why as he does the same things I do. But, it was not a pretty sight.

 

[bigbull338]

theres a few ways you can control pinkeye.1 you can vacc all your cows an calves againt pinkeye.2.you can control the flys.3.keep your pastures shredded an the grass an weeds not real tall.4.get all red or black cows.they dont have near the pinkeye other cows do.a friend told me that trick when i started buying cows.

 

[1982vett]

Always try & keep good minerals in front of them. Start early spring with fly stop in minerals. Use the same as Jogeephus on back rubs & keep them charged. Cows will use them more than you think. Clip pastures when and where feasible. Lucky not to have neighbor's herd too close. Knock on wood, haven't had problems with Pink Eye for some years now.

Hope I don't have to eat this tomorrow, with the exception of fly stop in the minerals (cattle don't eat enough to do any good) I have to say ditto.

 

[KNERSIE]

This will help with selection to avoid eye problems

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36508&p=395882&hilit=hereford+eyeset&sid=2755501bfb6c5bd02b2a5de904ff6259#p395882

ANother thing to remember when vaccinating with piliguard is that animals being vaccinated for the first time need a booster shot 4 weeks later to get better immunity. It doesn't say so on the enclosed leaflet, but after I had my vet contacting the manufacturer they suggested a booster 4 weeks later on calves while prviously vaccinated animals just need a yearly booster.

From my experience you need to vaccinate well ahead of the fly season to prevent an outbreak. Once you've had the outbreak you're going to doctor many eyes in the next month or so.

The best treatment I've found so far is Curaclox DC which is a dry cow anti mastitis intra mammary injection with the active ingredient of cloxicillin. If you treat early one treatment is usually sufficient, if you don't catch it early a shot of long acting oxytetracycline does wonders in combination with the Curaclox.

 

[hrbelgians]

Well,
This is an interesting topic for me. I don't have much advice at this time, nor do I want to hijack this thread, but would like to add another question if I may?
I have only had one case of pinkeye in 10 years, running around 15 cow/calf pairs. :banana:
I don't say this to brag because, I am not sure what I am doing right or is it just plain old dumb luck?
I don't vaccinate, only try to feed a good mineral program and of course try to have the soil in good condition. Also do fly control.
An old cattleman told me this program (or lack thereof) works great as long as I don't buy a lot of new cattle, as my herd will build their own immune system!!
I did this on kind of an experiment, to see what the outcome is or rather if it was possible?

So far, knock on wood........nothing for 5 years now???
<
<
<
My question; do genetics also play a part in this??

Or is it possible, that I am just living on time bomb getting ready to explode?

 

[TexasBred]

Always try & keep good minerals in front of them. Start early spring with fly stop in minerals. Use the same as Jogeephus on back rubs & keep them charged. Cows will use them more than you think. Clip pastures when and where feasible. Lucky not to have neighbor's herd too close. Knock on wood, haven't had problems with Pink Eye for some years now.

Hope I don't have to eat this tomorrow, with the exception of fly stop in the minerals (cattle don't eat enough to do any good) I have to say ditto.

'82..guess everybody has different results. I've had the IGR fly control mineral out quite a while and have hardly any flies...worked well last year as well....but you are right about one thing. They do have to eat it for it to work. ;-) Can't even remember the last case of pick-eye I had...use to have a lot in holsteins tho.

 

[KNERSIE]

An old cattleman told me this program (or lack thereof) works great as long as I don't buy a lot of new cattle, as my herd will build their own immune system!!
I did this on kind of an experiment, to see what the outcome is or rather if it was possible?

Its a kind of which was there first the chicken or the egg scenario.

There are many strains of pili causing pink eye, most if not all of them are vector borne. Not sure how far a fly or gnats flying range is, but I guess it could be that certain strains just isn't in your area and because your cattle are continuously exposed to the local strains they have developed a form of immunity. If that holds true then why shouldn't it also apply for cattle you are bringing in from a different region. You could very well introduce a new strain to the vectors in your area to go and infect the rest of your herd with and infect the new cattle with the strains you had all along, but that they weren't exposed to in the past.

 

[hrbelgians]

An old cattleman told me this program (or lack thereof) works great as long as I don't buy a lot of new cattle, as my herd will build their own immune system!!
I did this on kind of an experiment, to see what the outcome is or rather if it was possible?

Its a kind of which was there first the chicken or the egg scenario.

There are many strains of pili causing pink eye, most if not all of them are vector borne. Not sure how far a fly or gnats flying range is, but I guess it could be that certain strains just isn't in your area and because your cattle are continuously exposed to the local strains they have developed a form of immunity. If that holds true then why shouldn't it also apply for cattle you are bringing in from a different region. You could very well introduce a new strain to the vectors in your area to go and infect the rest of your herd with and infect the new cattle with the strains you had all along, but that they weren't exposed to in the past.

Makes sense.

 

[jasrnch]

In my herd the cows and calves that have a predominance of herford blood lines seem to get pink eye the most. The bad part about my situation is that my cattle are running on public lands, with other herds. That makes it almost impossible to do anything but vaccinate. Then doctor the ones with it in the fall when they come home. But I'm getting pretty good at giving shots in the eye. :cboy:

 

[Bluestem]

Well,
This is an interesting topic for me. I don't have much advice at this time, nor do I want to hijack this thread, but would like to add another question if I may?
I have only had one case of pinkeye in 10 years, running around 15 cow/calf pairs. :banana:
I don't say this to brag because, I am not sure what I am doing right or is it just plain old dumb luck?
I don't vaccinate, only try to feed a good mineral program and of course try to have the soil in good condition. Also do fly control.
An old cattleman told me this program (or lack thereof) works great as long as I don't buy a lot of new cattle, as my herd will build their own immune system!!
I did this on kind of an experiment, to see what the outcome is or rather if it was possible?

So far, knock on wood........nothing for 5 years now???
<
<
<
My question; do genetics also play a part in this??

Or is it possible, that I am just living on time bomb getting ready to explode?

Yes, I believe genetics play a role in fly control. The rest of your program plays an important part as well. If your not already doing it, Rotating pastures will also help.
If you were to get a bacterial or fungal infection you could also use Colloidal Silver to control it. Won't hurt the eyes.

 

[pdfangus]

This is the first year in ten or twelve that we have not vaccinated for pinkeye.

Vet said that he had observed a real falloff in efficacy. Said there is a new pinkeye vaccine on the horizon and when it comes out that he may start recommending it again.

Regarding mineral. we feed a good balanced mineral with chlorotetracycline in it.

We had a couple of bad outbreaks of pinkeye a few years ago and vet had us do three things.
1. start vaccination program for pinkeye
2. start fly tagging in spring
3. start the medicated mineral
4. we have long used back rubs for fly control. helps til late summer.

I have long thought that the mineral was the most beneficial of the three things.

we suspended the fly tagging about three or four years ago with no negative impact.

this year we did not vaccinate. Will report if we start to have problems.

I firmly believe that closed herds that are allowed to adapt to the managment on the farm have dramatically less health related problems than herds that bring in cattle. We closed our herd about fifteen years ago and will only bring back one of our bulls from test to use for cleanup. that is the extent of our outside exposure. We raise our own replacments.

I was even thinking last night that the cattle must develop a genetic predispositon to a consistnet managment scheme. I say that becasue we just weaned our replacment heifers and bulls last Saturday. this is either a group of calves that is genetically disposed to our managment or they are the smartest calves I have ever raised. Normally I have to walk the calves to the barn the first couple of weeks for them to learn the routes and to come for feed.

this years calves I turned out on the third day after weaning and they had already learned where the feed bunk was and were all started eating. I put the bulls in a small lot and the heifers into another larger lot. the first night they all came to call at feeding time. Last night six days post weaning they call when they see me and head for the barn. Sometimes they have to walk away from the barn to go thru a gate to come to the barn and they have figured this out too. these calves may be smarter than i am.

 

[S&amp;S Farms]

IF you get an eye problem put a patch over it to keep the sun off of it and it will heal better and quicker. We use xt4 fly tags cattle rubs and medicated mineral. really need to get the scrub brush next out of the pastures.

Back to the patch old blue jeans and some back tag glue put it across the top and side along the nose. make a little tent so cow can see down. You do not want patch to rub the eye.

Jeff

 

[TexasBred]

IF you get an eye problem put a patch over it to keep the sun off of it and it will heal better and quicker. We use xt4 fly tags cattle rubs and medicated mineral. really need to get the scrub brush next out of the pastures.

Back to the patch old blue jeans and some back tag glue put it across the top and side along the nose. make a little tent so cow can see down. You do not want patch to rub the eye.

Jeff

S&S....did you steal my playbook???? :lol: Old fashioned but that's what I've always done especially with dairy cattle where it seems to be more common....Only thing different is that I get a mastitis tube and apply part of it under the eyelid before patching. Vaccines may have improved but just never seem to work for me when I did use them.

 

[hrbelgians]

Well,
This is an interesting topic for me. I don't have much advice at this time, nor do I want to hijack this thread, but would like to add another question if I may?
I have only had one case of pinkeye in 10 years, running around 15 cow/calf pairs. :banana:
I don't say this to brag because, I am not sure what I am doing right or is it just plain old dumb luck?
I don't vaccinate, only try to feed a good mineral program and of course try to have the soil in good condition. Also do fly control.
An old cattleman told me this program (or lack thereof) works great as long as I don't buy a lot of new cattle, as my herd will build their own immune system!!
I did this on kind of an experiment, to see what the outcome is or rather if it was possible?

So far, knock on wood........nothing for 5 years now???
<
<
<
My question; do genetics also play a part in this??

Or is it possible, that I am just living on time bomb getting ready to explode?

Yes, I believe genetics play a role in fly control. The rest of your program plays an important part as well. If your not already doing it, Rotating pastures will also help.
If you were to get a bacterial or fungal infection you could also use Colloidal Silver to control it. Won't hurt the eyes.

Thanks Bluestem,
Yes, I am rotating pastures.