Hair loss in calf! Sore spots? What is it?

[AldacoCattle]

I have a calf that is about 2 weeks old! We found him this weekend with those patches of lost hair! Does anyone have any idea of what it could be? He is eating and acting normal so I don't know what to give him!

 

[TCRanch]

Take his temp. Hair loss can be the result of fever. Not sure what breed, but he sure looks thin to me. Can't tell from the pic but is that residual mud on his face & ears?

 

[J Hoy]

I have only seen this in dogs, goats and deer fawns. In the animals I saw, the skin became red and blistered near the joints when the joint area became very hot. The hair fell out and then after several days, the blistered area looked very much like the hairless areas on your calf. The animals on which this condition occurred, appeared to have a severe reaction to something, either in the air or something they ate. I gave them a combination of electrolytes to help their systems get rid of whatever they had been exposed to. They all recovered and their hair grew back. Your calf appears to not be properly metabolizing the food it gets as like TCRanch says, it appears to be quite thin. Whatever causes the inflammation of the joints, blistering and hair loss often adversely affects ability to digest food.

 

[annmariemz23]

My immediate response is fungal infection. The spot near the hock is a pressure spot where he would be rubbing the ground when lying down. It looks pretty wet, a condition which encourages fungus. I agree he looks a little thin, and possibly is therefore fighting something else which makes him more prone to fungal infections. I know it is an old-time remedy, but we have used garden sulfur and lard(or shortening) and applied it to ringworm spots with great success. We don't always do it, so maybe some new med is better. We usually only use it if a horse gets a spot which is rare. About to go try it today on a filly who must have rubbed above her eye on a branch where the cattle with ringworm were scratching.