Lossing Hair

[farmerjon]

I have a bread angus heifer who is lossing hair in patches about 2 inches round on her back towards her back end. Any ideas on what is causing this?

[Karin L]

Possibly Ringworm. Is it scabby and in circular patterns? Could also be lice.

[farmerjon]

they are not scabby, it looks like someone shaved her in spots.

[genebo]

It's the right time of year for mites and lice. The cattle itch and rub on anything they can find. It rubs the hair off just as you describe.

Look around to see if you can find tufts of hair stuck on trees, fences or barn corners.

Most wormers, pyrethrin or permethrin sprays, sevin dust and some other treatments kill the mites or lice on the cattle. Then you have to find out where they're getting it and spray there, too.

Or, you can leave it alone and it will probably go away in a while. The cattle can lose a lot of hair, look awful and suffer some irritating itching.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[agmantoo]

This time of year it is probably lice. Cattle have lice year around but in hot weather the lice move to the underside of the cattle and are not obvious. If you can get near the cattle most any insecticide will kill lice. As soon as the weather heats up and the sun gets intense the lice will cease to create the patches and seek shade.

[Karin L]

You could treat her with Ivomectin or Ivermectin, whichever is available, and give it to her as a pour-on or injectible.

A cattle oiler for her to rub and scratch on with some insecticide is good too. With our cattle we do both the oiler and the pour-on.

[agmantoo]

the ivermectin pour on kills the dung beetles

[Karin L]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

the ivermectin pour on kills the dung beetles

Aye but I'm in a different area than you...we don't have any dung beetles up here, so it's no worry about using Ivomectin on them...up here. Of course we also got different species of bugs to break down the cowpies as well.

Just suggesting something that we use. No need to get huffy about it.

[postroad]

Now I am visualising thousands of little dung beetles madly pushing their little round pills in all directions

[francismilker]

Just bought a bottle of Ivermectin yesterday to treat 10 cows/calfs for lice and other internal and external parasites at the local feed store for $16. It's easy to pour on and takes care of the lice problem in a couple of weeks. I usually use wormer twice a year. Before I move them to grass pasture in the Spring, and when I bring them back in the Fall for wintering. If your animal hasn't been on a worming regiment for a while, it may be a good idea to follow up with an additional worming according to the instructions on the bottle to kill any unhatched larvae that got missed during the first treatment.