Eye problems

sunnyblueskies

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Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
428
Location
Alberta Canada
How do I know it's pink eye and not just an irritated eye from environmental things, like strong winds, dust etc?
We have a few, cows and calves, which have teary eyes. Not necessarily both eyes. They are not red, just a lot of tears flowing from it. Usually don't swell up either.
Of course there is the odd case throughout the year where an eye swells up shut, which I would consider pink eye then. Had 2 calves last fall coming from the summer pasture with pink eye and couldn't ship them with the rest due to swollen eyes and drug withdrawl time.

Considering vaccinating calves for pink eye, not sure though if that's really necessary or worth it?
What can you tell me?
 
Unless you examine the eye and make sure there isn't any debris (like a foxtail, etc), you probably won't know if it's pinkeye from moxarella bovis, moxarella bovoculi or mycoplasma bovis or just an irritation, possibly from a stemmy bale or grazing.

My entire herd is vaccinated with an autogenous every year. But geography matters. Kansas is notoriously windy and, until recently, has been in a 3-year drought. There will be dust, debris and a lot of flies. Whether or not you should vaccinate is also contingent on possible neighboring cattle. Do you share a fence line or are other cattle relatively close? What is their protocol for fly control and vaccinations?

An autogenous vaccine is fairly expensive. "Typical" pinkeye vaccines that only protect against moxarella bovis don't cost much. Would it be more expensive to proactively vaccinate or treat the few that get it? Also contingent on whether you treat with something like Draxxin (or a generic), LA300, mastitis cream or just slap on a patch.
 
Unless you examine the eye and make sure there isn't any debris (like a foxtail, etc), you probably won't know if it's pinkeye from moxarella bovis, moxarella bovoculi or mycoplasma bovis or just an irritation, possibly from a stemmy bale or grazing.

My entire herd is vaccinated with an autogenous every year. But geography matters. Kansas is notoriously windy and, until recently, has been in a 3-year drought. There will be dust, debris and a lot of flies. Whether or not you should vaccinate is also contingent on possible neighboring cattle. Do you share a fence line or are other cattle relatively close? What is their protocol for fly control and vaccinations?

An autogenous vaccine is fairly expensive. "Typical" pinkeye vaccines that only protect against moxarella bovis don't cost much. Would it be more expensive to proactively vaccinate or treat the few that get it? Also contingent on whether you treat with something like Draxxin (or a generic), LA300, mastitis cream or just slap on a patch.
That's the dilemma I'm in. Never vaccinated for pink eye and thanks for clearing that up about differences in pink eye vaccines.
It's not like we have a pandemic every year, maybe a case or two, if that. During most of the summer we can't really treat because the herd is out on a very large area of bushland with no possibility to 'bring one in to treat'. Unless with a dart gun I suppose.
Like you say, I'd have to outweigh the cost of vaccine for everybody or treating the odd case.
Thanks @TCRanch, sometimes it's worth while to just 'talk' with somebody else to get the whole picture.
 
If they aren't red its usually a eye irritation. Some cows just seem to get it regularly. If possible I get them into the chute to look them over and give them a shot of LA 300. If out on distant pasture I just watch them for a few days and if necessary dart them with Draxxin. I don't have many cases so don't vaccinate. I try to avoid cows that don't have dark eye pigment but sometimes I can't pass up a deal for a good hereford.
 
And yet . . . . last week I noticed one of my calves with a watery eye, halfway shut. And, of course, out to pasture. I had sprayed the herd with Fly Ban the day prior, so initially wondered if I inadvertently got some in his eye. Decided to watch and wait. After a couple days I could see a little white spot. Lucky for me, he's docile and a hand-feeder, so I decided to experiment with Terramycin boluses. They're intended for scours and shipping fever but oxytetracycline is the primary ingredient. Fed him the boluses with cubes then flushed his eye as best I could with Vetericyn Plus Antimicrobial Pink Eye Spray. Worked like a charm! Eye is cleared, no white spot, no watering. Did I flush out some offending object or did the oxytetracycline do the trick? Dunno.
 

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