Warts on dexters face?

[Dirtslinger]

My one cattle book has no information on warts. Is it contagious?
Is this permanently treatable? How is it treated?

There are 3-4 warts over one eye of a yearling heifer, and the seller tells me there had been one on her nose previous. Sounds like when cattle in this herd have them they rub them off on the fencing.
I didn't notice this on any other in the herd though.

Thanks for any tips here. I'm seriously considering several animals from this herd including this heifer, great genetics, the farmer has spent a lot of time with these animals- and says there isn't anything to worry about- but I do.

[MARYDVM]

Warts are caused by a virus, and typically they go away as the young animal ages, and its immune system matures. An animal under stress can sometimes have a huge number of them on the face and neck. There is a wart vaccine available, but whether it works or not is debatable. A few warts on a healthy animal will usually be gone in several months no matter what you do.

[Dirtslinger]

Thank you!
Is this something that will make or break sales in the future? These would be my first cattle and breeding stock at that. Plan is mainly to breed cattle for sale (4H or other hobbiests) If these warts are transmittable and show generally on the young stock- I wonder if I'd become known as the guy with the warty herd to stay away from?

[Christiaan]

The warts are harmless, and like with human kids it takes awhile for the body to recognize them and get rid of them. They are harder to sell while they have the warts, but once the warts are gone no one is the wiser. Even people who know better generally won't buy an animal while it has the warts. I've gotten good discounts by buying animals with warts.

[francismilker]

A lot of times I've seen adult cattle get the warts at specific times of the year such as Spring when certain kinds of grasses are prevalent. They almost always go away with time. If they don't, I believe the vet would prescribe something like copper sulfate to put on them. (I may not be correct on that drug)

[planecrazyusa]

I had a horse that had sarcoids and the vet at the time told me they don't know where it comes from for sure but that it might be related to the cattle wart virus, so if you have equines, you might want to keep them away from the infected cattle until they clear up or check with your vet. By the way the horse never recovered from the virus and has had it for 7 years. A huge cancer like growth on her face.

[jim/se kansas]

Go to your Vet and get a shot and that will take care of them.

[cowkeeper]

Warts are very common and self-limiting. For a few head of Dexters, it is not the same situation as a large commercial herd, and shots for warts would not be necessry or advisable.

[genebo]

I've read where people claimed that if you pulled off a piece of wart, put it in their feed and let them eat it, it will give them immunity to warts and they'll never have them again.

Then I read that cattle usually get them between the ages of 1 and 2 years old, and once they drop off, they never have them again, anyway.

I don't think I'd worry about them unless they were on the organs of generation. Genital warts can render a bull sterile, at least temporarily.

Genebo
Paradise Farm