Cattle Lice

[Son of Butch]

A fellow asked me a question yesterday that stumped me...so thought I'd pass it along.
Where do cattle lice come from?
Why do my cattle have lice?
He stated he poured all of them last spring and poured them again this fall.
No other animals kept on the farm and no new animals have been introduced in the last year...so...
How the heck is it that my cattle now have lice this winter?
Where did the little buggers come from?

 

[dun]

I asked the same question of our vet a couple of years ago. He claims they are always there, it's just in the cold weather that they become more active and reproduce more probably because of the longer hair.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Yes, you never get rid of them completely. Kind of like worms, you just treat to keep the numbers down.
You are going to have eggs hatch again just a short time after you treat, starting the cycle all over again.

 

[Nesikep]

From everything I read you should treat twice in a 3 week period...

I know my cows will always have a bunch of lice, I just treat the worst cases with pyrethin based sprays.

 

[Black and Good]

This might be a "wives tale" but my grandpa and my father always told me that they came out of the ground. I was always told they come out of the ground when it gets cold and go back when it gets warm. :hide: op: B&G

 

[ClinchValley]

Mine too have lice. I have some pour on to use if it is ever not raining and above freezing.

Is it a waste to treat even? It looks miserable though.

They are a parasite right? Eating blood? Nasty little critter.

 

[Son of Butch]

This might be a "wives tale" but my grandpa and my father always told me that they came out of the ground. I was always told they come out of the ground when it gets cold and go back when it gets warm. :hide: op: B&G

I thought parasites couldn't survive more than a few days separated from a host animal.

 

[dun]

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef512.asp

 

[Stocker Steve]

From everything I read you should treat twice in a 3 week period...

Treating twice is best.
Sometimes folks wait till it is cold and can get by with one treatment.

 

[dun]

From everything I read you should treat twice in a 3 week period...

Treating twice is best.
Sometimes folks wait till it is cold and can get by with one treatment.

Treating once doesn;t make sense, penny wise and pound foolish. What one treatment may do is knock down the lice but it won;t affect the eggs(nits), when they hatch you are back to the same as you started with. What one treatment may do is knock them down and then the weather/conditions get to the point that the infestation from the newly hatched ones is masked by the time of year when you don;t notice them.

 

[pappy6]

why not just keep your backrubs up and treated? I never have a lice problem and leave them up year round.