Pink Eye Again

[Stocker Steve]

We used to have about one case a year. Last year we grazed some tall forage and had a big problem even with vaccinated cattle and good fly control. This year we switched vaccine per the vet's recommendations and did not graze much tall forage. The older steers were vaccinated once (per label) and the lighter steers were vaccinated twice. The older steers had a few problems, but about 25% of the lighter steers have had pink eye. An old timer told me it is mostly due to stress and feed and this makes sense to me. Two questions:

If they get to the point there is a bump or ulcer on the eye is a patch the best treatment?
How much benefit have you seen from medicated mineral or feed?

 

[dun]

How much benefit have you seen from medicated mineral or feed?

We feed mineral with CTC and haven;t had pinkeye in years (famous last words). But we also practice lfy control and don;t grasze, gnenrally, tall forages or forage with loose seeds.

 

[cfpinz]

If they get to the point there is a bump or ulcer on the eye is a patch the best treatment?

We give a shot of LA200, a squirt of pen in the eye, and then patch over it. If caught early enough, no scar tissue will form. Once the eye develops the bump or ulcer the damage has been done. A patch then is like a band-aid on a broken leg, keeps you from having to look at it. But it will block light from the eye and help prevent further spread of the disease.

We use the ctc minerals and try to keep the grass down, use the fly rubs and forget about the shots, usually have a case of pinkeye for every 50 to 100 sets of eyeballs.

cfpinz

 

[Stocker Steve]

Do you use a commercial patch or make your own?

 

[Limomike]

The key to prevention is to not graze the tall forages. Its those small seeds that collect in the eyes, that cause most of the problems.

 

[cfpinz]

Once the eye develops the bump or ulcer the damage has been done. A patch then is like a band-aid on a broken leg, keeps you from having to look at it. But it will block light from the eye and help prevent further spread of the disease.

cfpinz

Do you use a commercial patch or make your own?

I use these:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e07954-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5

Don't bother with the calf size unless you raise dexters. If I don't have any around, the wife's blue jeans work well, too.

cfpinz

 

[mitch2]

How much benefit have you seen from medicated mineral or feed?

We feed mineral with CTC and haven;t had pinkeye in years (famous last words). But we also practice lfy control and don;t grasze, gnenrally, tall forages or forage with loose seeds.

What does CTC stand for? (again)

Michele

 

[Outrigger2]

chlorotetracycline. not sure about spelling

 

[Double A]

Our pinkeye cases vary per year - sometimes we have a few cases; but, have had only a couple in the last several years. We try to catch it in its early stages but do follow the others and use the LA200 and a shot of liq. pen into the eye. We do not use the patch because we like to see if it is getting better. We also quit using the CTC mineral because we found it to not be beneficial. If I remember right it is only for the horn flies and not the face flies. It didn't seem to help much either and especially so when your adjoining fence neighbor doesn't use it - you are just wasting money. What we found to work the absolute best is to periodically squirt the cows and calves with UltraBoss. I think it comes with an applicator squirt gun. A squirt/few sprinkles per animal (and you don't have to hit every animal either but we try to) and we tend to have very few flies if any. We try and not graze tall seedy pastures (or will sometimes top them) to also reduce possible eye irritants. In places were you can't work the cattle if you do develop a case, we will sometimes either add to the mineral or top dress bucket feed with an antibiotic like Aero or something else available from the feed store in crumbles. This will often turn the early squinting and eye watering cases around. I'm not going to say this is the perfect solution so as not to curse myself but it has certainly reduced our problems to where we only have 1 or 2 cases per year, and it is often in calves after weaning (stress).

 

[dun]

Our pinkeye cases vary per year - sometimes we have a few cases; but, have had only a couple in the last several years. We try to catch it in its early stages but do follow the others and use the LA200 and a shot of liq. pen into the eye. We do not use the patch because we like to see if it is getting better. We also quit using the CTC mineral because we found it to not be beneficial. If I remember right it is only for the horn flies and not the face flies. It didn't seem to help much either and especially so when your adjoining fence neighbor doesn't use it - you are just wasting money. What we found to work the absolute best is to periodically squirt the cows and calves with UltraBoss. I think it comes with an applicator squirt gun. A squirt/few sprinkles per animal (and you don't have to hit every animal either but we try to) and we tend to have very few flies if any. We try and not graze tall seedy pastures (or will sometimes top them) to also reduce possible eye irritants. In places were you can't work the cattle if you do develop a case, we will sometimes either add to the mineral or top dress bucket feed with an antibiotic like Aero or something else available from the feed store in crumbles. This will often turn the early squinting and eye watering cases around. I'm not going to say this is the perfect solution so as not to curse myself but it has certainly reduced our problems to where we only have 1 or 2 cases per year, and it is often in calves after weaning (stress).

CTC is an antibiotic and wouldn;t have any affect on any kind of flys.

 

[Double A]

You're right - I got my acronyms confused. I meant the IGR (which also had the CTC in it too) - don't ask me what it stands for. It was in the Purina mineral (I think it is Altsoid? or something that starts with an A - I'd look it up, but we don't use it anymore)...too many acronyms and abbreviations.

 

[Outrigger2]

i think with the mineral having IGR it will always have to have the CTC. the IGR suppresses the immune system which then the CTC helps control any secondary problems. correct me if i am wrong

 

[dun]

i think with the mineral having IGR it will always have to have the CTC. the IGR suppresses the immune system which then the CTC helps control any secondary problems. correct me if i am wrong

IGR doesn;t do diddly in the cow. It's the manure and acts to prevent maturation of the fly larvae.

 

[Outrigger2]

thanks for clearing that up. a little confused