Herefords

[gerardplauche]

I am buying a few Herefords heifers for breeding and everyone keeps telling me to be careful of the eye problems. I knew that this was an issue, but I am hearing this SO much that I am wandering how common is the eye problem in herefords. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[FarmGirl10]

From what I understand eye problems in herefords are pretty much gone. Especially if they are pigmented around the eyes.

 

[farmwife]

I wouldn't say eye problems are gone. There have been several very good threads on here in the last year discussing eye problems in Herefords. One thread pointed out the eye problems are genetic and not necessarily linked to pigment around the eye. Another thread discussed the eye set of the cattle being a deterent to eye problems related to dust, grass and other debri being able to enter the eye as easily.

Maybe someone can link those threads, since I'm so technologically challenged. You can also do a search of the message board.

 

[I luv herfrds]

We do not normally run into an eye problem with our Herefords until they are around 8-10 years of age. Mainly what has been showing up is cancer of the eye. Like this cow pictured. She has cancer on both the third eye lid and on her eye. The vet had to remove the whole eye.
Now when it is hot and dry and the wind is blowing their eyes will water and look bad.
We have not had a history of pink eye in our herefords either. In fact this is the first year I can remember in which we had a case of pink eye in one heifer.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

We do not normally run into an eye problem with our Herefords until they are around 8-10 years of age. Mainly what has been showing up is cancer of the eye. Like this cow pictured. She has cancer on both the third eye lid and on her eye. The vet had to remove the whole eye.
Now when it is hot and dry and the wind is blowing their eyes will water and look bad.
We have not had a history of pink eye in our herefords either. In fact this is the first year I can remember in which we had a case of pink eye in one heifer.

thats about the average age for it to show up. had a 8 year old braford f1 cow that got a mass on her 3rd eyelid. me and the ex >a vet< removed it. her full sister is 18, aint had any problems.

 

[Aaron]

This is copied from a post of mine on another thread:

The goggled-eyes on the Herefords has to do with preventing cancer eye, not pinkeye. Any of our cows with pigmented eyelids contract pinkeye just as easy as those who have white eyelids.
The two worst breeds for cancer eye are Herefords and Holsteins. The rate at which cancer attacks the eye in these breeds is determined by 2 factors: the strain of cancer and the inherited genetics. Cancer eye is believed to have a heridity factor of 0.4. Animals whose eyes bulge from the sockets are more likely to contract cancer eye, compared to those whose eyes rest normally in the sockets. Animals who have 'hooded' eyes (top of skull protrudes over the eye) can pass on this trait, are unlikely to contract cancer eye, and should be selected for this trait. Animals with white eyelids are more susceptable to cancer than those with a large patch of brown covering the entire eye area. If the animal has little pigmentation, it is more important to keep or purchase animals that have brown on the lower eyelid, rather than the upper eyelid. This is due to the angle at which UV rays hit the eye and the eyelid. The reason brown over the entire eye is preferred is because a cow's EYE is unpigmented at birth and becomes fully pigmented at an age of about 4-5 years. The amount of pigmentation deposited in the eye is directly correlated to the amount of pigmentation surrounding the eye. Therefore, brown covering the entire eyelid area results in cows whose eye's are completely pigmented when mature, lessening the chance of cancer eye. :cboy:

 

[S&amp;S Farms]

Cows with cancer eyes go to town and so does the whole family. We have not had a problem for several years. Eyes and udders have to work or bye bye.

Jeff

 

[I luv herfrds]

Let me give you a little history on this cow.
She is 8 years old, no history on her dam side of cancer eye. I looked through our records that go clear back to the 1970's. No sisters, neices, or other offspring from this line have had cancer eye. Took me a couple of hours to find that out. Found the same thing with every cow we have ever shipped for cancer eye. It seems that the hottest summers are the worst for the cancer eye.
Talked to my vet about cancer of the eye. He told me that if anybody could figure out what causes this to happen in a cow that has no history of it in their line, this person would be rich.
The cancer in this eye was very aggressive. The vet had already removed a mass off of the third eye lid a few months before. He did not want to stress her more then nessacery because she was close to calving. He waited a couple weeks after she calved before he removed the eye. She has a less aggressive cancer in her other eye.

Aaron we are breeding for the goggle eye. Got a bug eyed 10 year old that has never had trouble with her eyes. Go figure.

sooknortex she is raising a good looking steer calf right now. Now if the cancer in the other eye turns aggressive, we have already decided that a bullet is the best thing we can do for her. That same end is planned for this fall at weaning time.

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

I've had no cancer eye or pinkeye in my herd in the seven or so years we've had registered Herefords (Thank God!).A couple of years ago the Angus based herd across the fence had an outbreak of pinkeye, and we escaped it! The point is, every breed CAN have eye problems. Some good friends who run one of my former herd bulls on their predominantly purebred Charolais cows claim that Chars are among the worse about getting pinkeye. That does not mean that they should abandon Chars.

Grandpa used to have a case of cancer eye once in a while in his commercial Herefords in the seventies, and they would have a case or two of pinkeye here and there. I think that the breed as a whole has definitely made progress, and I know breeders who haven't had a case of either in many years. Richard Day would be one of them. I believe that the Hereford breed's advantages outweigh its weaknesses by far. Having said that, we need to continue to work to strengthen the areas that need attention.

Nutrition and pasture management, and fly control are all important regardless of breed.

 

[andybob]

This topic was covered a while ago with an excellent post by Knersie; viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36508&p=395882&hilit=Hereford+eye+set#p395882

 

[Central Fl Cracker]

I have lost 2 older cows last year due to cancer eye. I do not run pure herefords but I think thye had some hereford bloodlines from somewhere. I recently told my cattle buyer I do not want any more white eye pigment cows. I think it is worse in Fl. due to the sun.

 

[Tom Underwood]

I have owned over 700 Hereford dams over the past eight years. I have had many cases of pinkeye, although it has been dependent on my management. I have some farms that have not had pinkeye in years.

Of the 700+ dams, one got cancer eye. She was a 1997 model and got cancer eye in 2006. I culled her, and all offspring. I had no other dams out of her sire or dam. In terms of working with the commonly-used bulls in the Hereford breed, I have not come across cancer eye yet. Others may have, but I have not.

Tom

 

[SRBeef]

I have a small herd of herefords. As it was explained to me, flies around the eyes are more of a problem with the full white face and less of a problem with the herefords with some pigment around the eye. I think face flies are one source of a lot of problems such as pinkeye.

Basically I am starting to cull more on disposition first and conformation second. It looks to me like a good fly control programreally minimizes the importance of the eye pigment. For flies I use the rubs with the dangling flyps I think they are called - doused with a diesel/permethrin (sp?) mix every couple weeks. If you keep face flies under control I think a lot of the eye problems go away. This is helpful with any breed but especially with herefords.

The disposition of the Herefords appears to be so much better than other breeds I have been exposed to - even the 1/2 hereford 1/2 angus BWF - that I don't think "eye problems" are that high on the totem pole on cull criteria. jmho.

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

Let's also point out that as far as watering eyes go, when wind and dust blows, other cattle have watery eyes too. It's just not as noticable when you don't have the white face that shows the stain.

 

[bigbull338]

yes herefords do have a tendancy to have some cancer eye.but that doesnt mean all herefords will have it.yallo are jumping off the cliff on cancer eye so to speak.weeds dirt an flys can cause cows to have runny eyes.wich in turn may develope into pinkeye.wich if treated or not treated the cow will have a blue eye.wich means shes blind in that eye.i think in the last 10yrs we have had 2 cases of cancer eye.an the cows were hereford X holsteins.now to prevent cancer eye as best you can.you want herefords with some pigment around the eye.wich also helps prevent pinkeye.im thinking pinkeye an cancer eye maybe related to some extent.

 

[farmwife]

Recently, we had a bout with 3 young heifers. Two we purchased at a sale and they weren't delivered for about a month. The other we had had for several weeks before the purchase of the 2. Long story short, each one of them developed runny eyes and went blind (or at least we though). Our vet checked them out and we had to treat them with an eye sav for about 6 days each. Of course I was in a panic because I thought they had gone blind, but as it turned out (and the vet said it would), the eye had retained water and appeared to be blind. They overcame the whole thing and we've had no problem since. Well don't get down on the ranch where we purchased them. As it turns out, the guy that delivered them took them to his family farm for 2 days before bringing them to us. I'm not blaming anyone for anything, just relating our experience. We will purchase from that ranch again in the future with no worries.

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

Strange coincidence, I just heard of "blue eye" for the first time today, and was going to mention it tonight. Talked to a friend today who had a horrible bout with it. He has a few Herefords, but mostly black cattle. Several of his Herefords got it, but so did quite a few of his other cattle. He doctored them daily for a good while. His wife's grandmother's whole herd had it, including her solid black bull, who went blind in both eyes for a while.

Friend had a nice registered heifer calf that he bought at her mother's side at the Red Hills sale. (He bought nine pair there) This heifer was one of those who came down with blue eye in both eyes. The eyes swelled up, and she being blind, ran into something and burst one of them.

This is not something that is limited to Herefords.

 

[farmwife]

That is strange.

Luckily, our heifers only had it in one eye. We doctored both though. So, I don't know if the doctoring prevented it in the other eye or not; I could see how it might have.

 

[djinwa]

I'm curious as to how the goggle-eyes were started - I assume from some other breed? Seems if you just cross with angus you still get a white-faced cow. How do you just get the color around the eyes?

 

[Aaron]

The goggle eyes have always been in the Hereford breed, but to very little extent until the last 15 years or so. That is not the 'traditional' colour of a Hereford, so it was never selected for. There is such a wide variety of markings in the Hereford breed, from goggle-eyes, linebacks, mottle-faces and so on. Linebacks are predominant in the Spidel lines (Canadian), mottle-faces in the Victor lines and so on. Linebacks (white on back from head to tail head were pretty popular/dominant in the 50's and 60's). Now you rarely see any. I have raised a couple of them in the purebreds, but it is rare.

This day and age, we know the benefits of selecting for goggle eyes, so it is the dominant marking scheme nowadays. Similar to how Herefords use to have to have a white neck to be considered pure Hereford. Not many white necks at production sales nowadays. :cboy: