Jerseys and beefalo with lice

a1981sweetheart · #1 03/11/13, 03:33 PM

We have a very small farm (12 head of beefalo and 10 jerseys- 3 are milkers). they started losing hair so I researched it and it looks like it may be lice. 1 Where/how did they get it? We've never had this problem before! 2 How do we treat the beefalo? The jerseys are relatively calm so treating them isn't going to be a problem but you can't get near the beefalo. The are all in the same pasture so it's pointless to only treat some of them....

unregistered41671 · #2 03/11/13, 05:28 PM

Hate to hear about your lice problem. If you plan on keeping your cattle and or beefalo you will need to build some way of containing and restraining your animals in order to be able to treat various conditions and diseases. Without building any type of catch system, you may be able to treat with rubs. Below is a good article on lice treatment.
http://beefteam.msu.edu/Resources/He...7/Default.aspx

unregistered41671 · #3 03/11/13, 05:51 PM

a1981sweetheart, how close can you get to the Beefalo?

G. Seddon · #4 03/11/13, 05:57 PM

Lice are a common problem this time of year. A good pour-on will take care of it.

Sooner or later, anyone with cattle is going to need a way to catch, restrain, treat their cattle, even if it's only a pen made of sturdy corral panels. What would you do if you had a calving or other medical problem?

CIW · #5 03/11/13, 08:25 PM

Open a gate between pastures or going into a corral where they get water or minerals. Drive a steel post at a width to only allow one animal at a time to enter. Over the opening, hang a drench wipe. As they enter and leave they will drench themselves with whatever product you choose to put in it.
Most farm stores carry lice and fly drench as well as the drench wipes.

opportunity · #6 03/11/13, 10:10 PM

It's that time of year here as well I saw three out of 30 that had lice today but we were already planning to treat everyone as soon as hubby has time off work. We never had it in Idaho but we have had it here every year, everyone here gets it even if there are nto cows next to you.

arnie · #7 03/13/13, 10:29 AM

pour on ivometicin works great pour a stripe down there back the other guys a correct in mentioning a handleing pen or corral of some type .I get mine used to entering a pen buy feeding some grain or sweet treat inthere every so often this holds the cowboying down to a minuim when they will follow a bucket any where . and not be wild and suspicious readyto head for the hills at the slightest move; feeding and walking and speaking softly amungest them will in time have them tame I have to almostpush my mixed beef stock out of my way .one of my pet pevies is wild un handable cattle or other livestock more so as to many years are behind me if they don't tamedown with my care and feeding i'll find em a new home in a bun . hada beefalo steer one time that became an expert fence umper and was just wild natured till a trip to the beef sale :-)

ozark_jewels · #8 03/14/13, 03:14 PM

Are they naked under the hair loss or just very short hair?? I don't know where you are located but here in Southern Missouri our Jerseys have recently begun spring shedding and many lose hair in patches and clumps. Right now several of them look moth-eaten and awful from a distance, but up close you can see that they are simply shedding their winter coat in patches and underneath is that beautiful shiny summer coat I love to see.
So make sure you actually have lice before treating. Cows kept outside on pasture rarely have a lice problem unless they are crowded.

redgate · #9 03/18/13, 09:13 AM

For all the cows, a more natural approach is you can put a sulfur lick (I would recommend a mixed lick containing a similiarly rationed mix to 8# copper sulfate, 8# sulfur, 8# kelp, and 50# dolomite for best results, per Pat Coleby in Natural Cattle Care). Parasites of any type, including lice and worms, HATE being in/on an animal with a good balance of copper or sulfur in their system. When I got the copper right on my goats, I once saw balls of tapeworms flood out. The goat was in great shape after, and no chemicals needed! another option, at least for the cows you can approach, is to dust them and their lounging areas with diatomaceous earth. It kills lice on contact, but is also totally harmless to people and the environment.

a1981sweetheart · #10 03/21/13, 01:04 PM

Thanks for all of the help! The beefalo are all males- so no worry of calving! We used diatomaceous earth on our dogs for fleas (recommended by the local grain store) and it didn't seem to do anything

we do use it in the barn for chicken lice though and it works great....
We can't get real close to the beefalo, we use a trail of grain/hay to get them on the truck for slaughter but we can't touch them to do any type of rub.
We have 1200 acres and only a few head of cattle so they are not crowded

Obviously it's broke down into several pastures but they have plenty of room! I don't know how they got the lice, we've never had a problem with it before and it's definitely lice, my husband found the actual bugs on some of them and took them to the vet to make sure!

unregistered41671 · #11 03/21/13, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a1981sweetheart

We can't get real close to the beefalo, we use a trail of grain/hay to get them on the truck for slaughter but we can't touch them to do any type of rub.

http://livestockconcepts.com/en/appl...k-rubbers.html

You do not need to be able to touch them to use a "rub". Make it in a place where they have got to travel to get water or feed. Some people put them above gates. Just make sure the height is tall enough and not to low or to high.

Awnry Abe · #12 03/21/13, 07:20 PM

Not to hijack the thread, but at what point do lice become an issue where they merit treatment? I am sure that at some point performance would take a hit, but when is that? I've always had them (as in, the cows), and they seem to slough off with the winter coat. It seems to be chronic (as in comes back each year and is easily noticeable) with the older cows. The younger ones seem to not be affected.

And this is the part that has me scratching my head...We worked our herd in mid January (Cydectin, pour-on). By mid February, I noticed the splotchy patches.

CIW · #13 03/21/13, 09:33 PM

CrownRanch,
Its probably the lice that has you scratching your head.

The lice, at any level of infestation, are going to effect performance, just as do flys or not having a place for your animals to shade up in the heat of the day.
All these types of things weaken the animal to some level. When they have to fight off something more critical they make it tougher to beat.