Why is it Pinkeye?

[Jake]

We had it come in one year, treated a few calves but had some that were too far gone by the time we found them, the next year it came on with a vengeance we treated 75% of the calves, we had an implant vaccination made for the strain we were fighting and that took it down to no problems at all.

 

[Nesikep]

Lucky_P, have the powder forms of pinkeye treatment fallen out of favor since we used them in the early 90's? To me it sounds like a powder form, though it will still have less long term action than a systemic, will still work better than a liquid treatment. We have a 1 lb bag of 50% tetracycline that could be dusted in... Depending on the animal and severity of the pinkeye it may be an easier treatment than an injection.

 

[inyati13]

We had it come in one year, treated a few calves but had some that were too far gone by the time we found them, the next year it came on with a vengeance we treated 75% of the calves, we had an implant vaccination made for the strain we were fighting and that took it down to no problems at all.

Jake, what is an "implant vaccination"? Dr. Darin Stansfield offers a vaccine (bacterin) that is custom made to his request. It is a suspension of attenuated stains of the genus Moraxella that he has has recovered by swabbing the eye of cattle he treats and sends off for an aerobic culture. I started using it in the last month so I have no idea how effective it will be.

I had an occasion to walk through my neighbors herd yesterday. He has several cows that look like they have permanent eye damage due to pinkeye. Just an observation; not everyone has nice calves like we see on Cattle Today!!!!! His spring calves except for a couple of exceptions look like different species compared to mine!!! One thing that was interesting. He has a mixed herd. No uniformity what so ever but the charolais type calves seem to look a little better than the black calves.

 

[redcowsrule33]

Lucky_P, have the powder forms of pinkeye treatment fallen out of favor since we used them in the early 90's? To me it sounds like a powder form, though it will still have less long term action than a systemic, will still work better than a liquid treatment. We have a 1 lb bag of 50% tetracycline that could be dusted in... Depending on the animal and severity of the pinkeye it may be an easier treatment than an injection.

Powders cause scratching and irritation to the cornea, and work against you twice. 1) you are causing more damage to an already damaged cornea, making it easier for bacteria to invade it. 2) The increased irritation will cause increased tearing, which effectively washes the antibiotic out faster. Tetracycline is extremely irritating to any tissue in that concentration, you may cause blindness. The antibiotics that are effective against pinkeye are excreted in tears, constantly washing the cornea in the antibiotic it needs to get rid of the infection. A single dose of the appropriate long-acting antibiotic is the most effective and efficient method of treatment, period. Putting anything directly in the eye is making you feel better but isn't doing the most for your cow.

One must remember that if a case of pinkeye is treated once it has become more advanced, the eye will actually look worse as it heals as the eye grows blood vessels across the cornea to supply the defect with additional nutrition and healing factors, making it more red in appearance. My rule of thumb is if the eye is no longer tearing, the infection is gone and healing has begun.

 

[Jake]

We had it come in one year, treated a few calves but had some that were too far gone by the time we found them, the next year it came on with a vengeance we treated 75% of the calves, we had an implant vaccination made for the strain we were fighting and that took it down to no problems at all.

Jake, what is an "implant vaccination"? Dr. Darin Stansfield offers a vaccine (bacterin) that is custom made to his request. It is a suspension of attenuated stains of the genus Moraxella that he has has recovered by swabbing the eye of cattle he treats and sends off for an aerobic culture. I started using it in the last month so I have no idea how effective it will be.

I had an occasion to walk through my neighbors herd yesterday. He has several cows that look like they have permanent eye damage due to pinkeye. Just an observation; not everyone has nice calves like we see on Cattle Today!!!!! His spring calves except for a couple of exceptions look like different species compared to mine!!! One thing that was interesting. He has a mixed herd. No uniformity what so ever but the charolais type calves seem to look a little better than the black calves.

It's been several years since we but it was the same process in which you described but the put it in an implant form for a reason beyond my knowledge. We have more or less gotten lucky the past 2 years that we haven't had any problems, when you only check cattle once a week and it is a head count and look for obvious problems pinkeye often gets out of control before there is a quick cure.

 

[Bigfoot]

Another bad round of pink eye at my place. Gettin sick of it. I was sending a load out today, and had to turn 3 back out.

 

[inyati13]

Another bad round of pink eye at my place. Gettin sick of it. I was sending a load out today, and had to turn 3 back out.

I am being told that there is a strain of M. bovoculli out there that is believed to be very aggressive. Dr. Stansfield sends off a lot of swabs to get a handle on it here. We are into a major winter pinkeye problem. I still am having some weeping eyes. I watch them like a hawk.