Skin lesion

[OFLLC]

Hello. I have an 18 month steer that had what appeared to be a cut on his flank; based on location, I assumed he had cut himself rubbing against barbed wire or a T post or the like. The cut was about the size of a quarter/maybe half dollar. It was not deep but the hair was rubbed away and there a little blood like you see from an abrasion (that is, not dripping). It never got infected and scarred over. A few weeks later, he developed a second one on his hip. Same size and presentation. It again went away again with no further complications. Today I found the same sort of wound but near his tail head. I figured it was unlikely he could be so unlucky to cut himself three times in a month+, plus based on our farm, I'm not sure what he could have cut himself on at that body location. I thought it might be some sort of bug bite or insect sting, but I've never seen a similar wound on the other cattle (he's in a herd of about 30). He's the only animal that has these cuts, so I'm concerned it might be some sort of lesion caused by a skin disease. He's otherwise healthy, comes to cubes; I've seen him grazing and drinking and he's putting on weight, stays with the herd etc. Any ideas what this might be? I did some amateur research and there's nothing in any of my cattle health books or on the internet that seems to look the same.
I realize a picture would be helpful and will get one later this week. But thought I'd check in now in case this is an obvious one to the more seasoned on this board.
Thank you.

 

[Travlr]

Hello. I have an 18 month steer that had what appeared to be a cut on his flank; based on location, I assumed he had cut himself rubbing against barbed wire or a T post or the like. The cut was about the size of a quarter/maybe half dollar. It was not deep but the hair was rubbed away and there a little blood like you see from an abrasion (that is, not dripping). It never got infected and scarred over. A few weeks later, he developed a second one on his hip. Same size and presentation. It again went away again with no further complications. Today I found the same sort of wound but near his tail head. I figured it was unlikely he could be so unlucky to cut himself three times in a month+, plus based on our farm, I'm not sure what he could have cut himself on at that body location. I thought it might be some sort of bug bite or insect sting, but I've never seen a similar wound on the other cattle (he's in a herd of about 30). He's the only animal that has these cuts, so I'm concerned it might be some sort of lesion caused by a skin disease. He's otherwise healthy, comes to cubes; I've seen him grazing and drinking and he's putting on weight, stays with the herd etc. Any ideas what this might be? I did some amateur research and there's nothing in any of my cattle health books or on the internet that seems to look the same.
I realize a picture would be helpful and will get one later this week. But thought I'd check in now in case this is an obvious one to the more seasoned on this board.
Thank you.

My immediate thought was inbreeding. An abscess or allergy that formed a blister that popped? You can get some weird, sensitive skin conditions by breeding closely. Unless you know you're inbreeding it's probably not that, but there are so many closely related animals nowadays that it can happen fairly easily, accidentally, and most of them are fine.

Just speculating. I don't know enough about your situation to have a valid opinion. Just my first thought.

 

[OFLLC]

Thanks for the reply. I purchased the steer's sire and dam from different farms. They're in roughly the same geographic area (northeast Texas) but not that close. I think I'd have had to hit the reverse lottery to end up with animals that are closely enough related to suffer the effects of inbreeding. But I'd never call myself lucky, so who knows!

 

[Travlr]

Thanks for the reply. I purchased the steer's sire and dam from different farms. They're in roughly the same geographic area (northeast Texas) but not that close. I think I'd have had to hit the reverse lottery to end up with animals that are closely enough related to suffer the effects of inbreeding. But I'd never call myself lucky, so who knows!

LOL... well it was just a random thought. But if the steer is black there are a lot of Angus with close genetics.

 

[TCRanch]

Fly strike? Or possibly a reaction to fly spray (too much permethrin, etc.)? Awfully young for cancer/lymphosarcoma but that can cause ugly skin lesions.

 

[farmerjan]

Ringworm ???? Without a picture it would be hard to tell...