The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: wallyward on May 23, 2013, 07:31:08 am
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Hi
we are fairly new to cattle and have had a couple of 9 month old Dexter stirks for about a month now.
On one a patch developed by his nose where the hair was worn away and a sort of dry scab appeared. This is now about the size of a 5 pence piece.
have now noticed a smaller patch on the other side of the nose and a very samll patch by each eye.
Of course we have now let the calves out of their barn onto the paddock just to make any treatment harder!
so what does ringworm look like or is there anything else that springs to mind it could be and if ringworm whats the best way to treat?
calf is fine in every other way, grazing well, likes to run around and comes to the bucket for a bit of course mix. they have a mineral lick bucket but havent seemed to take to it yet.
thoughts?
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Definitely sounds like ringworm..... not sure what current treatment is .(ask vet or local supplier)... we used to use a spray many years ago. Be very carefull ringworm is a zoonose and infectious. You can get it from the animals or from wood etc they have infected. Most cattle people get it at sometime .... but ensure any suspect patches go to doctor and you tell him what it is likely to be as not all doctors will recognise it.
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Be very carefull ringworm is a zoonose and infectious. You can get it from the animals or from wood etc they have infected. Most cattle people get it at sometime ....
I got it - sounds like what you have. The vet diagnosed it on me. (I survived, as you can imagine... Just a bit itchy sometimes.)
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I've had it too. Took the doc ages to diagnose it - skin scrapes and all - despite me telling him what it was. had cream then pills that worked almost overnight ;D
Sounds like ringworm - there is a distinctive ring ie it's not a disc of infection. The inside will be clear and there will be a ring of red skin moving outwards.
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You can spray the patches with iodine if you want - but now the calves are running outside, it will almost certainly clear up on its own.
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Found this for you wallyward:
http://www.cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=53672 (http://www.cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=53672)
Some other useful cattle info there too.
:cow:
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Hi
many thanks for all the replies. Think for teh momment will just keep an eye and see if being outside now helps or at leasts stops it getting worse.
my youngest will be sad though that he cant give them a stroke for a while!
regards
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One of our 2 came up with a patch on the top of its neck and one in the middle of its neck.
I put Iodene on it and a week later its nearly cleared up. Thankfully the other one has not caught it or have I :fc:
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hi
i have the iodine solution we use for lambing, would that be the stuff to try? just brush a bit on?
thanks
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Yes, same as you use for lambing, but maybe use at 5% rather than 10%.
I keep mine in a spray bottle, and spray it onto the plaques.
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ringworm can also survive on fenceposts etc. virkon disinfectant can be used in that scenario.
there is a shampoo which you bath them in too which kills it.
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Sunlight kills it..... If we ever get any!
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If they have been inside then you'll need to disinfect the shed, especially around troughs and feed racks, otherwise any cattle going back in there could contract it.
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imervol, you can get it from mole valley farmers online, spray it with a small hand held garden sprayer, will kill it in 24 hours, cost you 25 quid and you wont even use a tenth of it,
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I've had it too. I don't know if this works but I was recently in a dairy which had sprigs of holly hung from the rafters, and to be fair none of the beasts had ringworm, it's probably just and old wives tale but anythings worth a try once.
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Our vet has recommended the holly - I will try it for next year and report back.
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Ring worm is a fungus not a worm ( a bit like a fairy-ring mushroom ring) My brother, as a child, caught it once from my rabbits/guinea pigs even though he was usually away at school. I never caught it once even though I was with them everyday, so don't worry too much.
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you can buy a million different potions and lotions for ringworm in cattle and they all work.... does that suggest something to you!
As stated above Sunlight is what kills it and the cattle will pick up an immunity that will then stop them having it.
Then a few years down the line you will get ringworm and go through the complete cycle again.
Creosote kills ringworm in wood (not creocote)
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Hi
so the update is we did nothing!
While thinking about what to do we noticed that since putting them outside the ringworm had stopped getting any worse, so we left it.
After the last few weeks of good sunshine it has all virtually cleared up. so sunshine really does seem to work!
we will though be extra carefull when getting teh barn ready for winter.
many thanks for all the suggestions recieved.
regards