# Pink eye treatment for skitzy cows



## freedomfrom4 (Jul 27, 2009)

Is there a way to treat pink eye from afar without having to get them in a head gate? My dad borrowed a bull and a little while after the bull got here he had pink eye. Dad bought the stuff from the feed store to spray in eyes a couple of times a day but the bulls eye looked worse not better. Now some of the cows are getting it. The cows come when called to dinner and spend time in the barn, but they aren't friendly walk up and treat cows. Is there anything we could put on the rub or spray from afar? he hasn't had pinkeye in his herd in at least 15 years. The old timers throw salt at them but we don't see how that can really help them. Any thoughts or ideas. The bull isn't mean and didn't mind people but the more he gets his eye squirted the less he likes us.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

No. there's not. If you can't actually use your hands to open the eyelids, you won't get any meds on the eyeball as there is a second eyelid you have to physically hold open. 

Antibiotics, but you have to have them fairly still long enough to stick them.

You can let it go and it will most likely clear up on it's own... almost as fast as if you treat it.


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

Medicated crumbles from feed store. It helps for the ones that you cant get close too but will come up and eat. Figure 1lb per head. Feed twice. The spray we use you have to get close, vet use's it for cats and dogs. And flush eye with La 200 if possible. Shot of la 200 don't hurt either. We had 1 case this year caught first day flushed eye and sprayed (gentamicin sulfate with betamethasome valerate) comes 120 ml spray bottle and gone in 3 days. last time paid like 15$ for bottle. and had about 2years and still over half.


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## wvdexters (Apr 30, 2012)

We had pinkeye here real bad here about 8 or 9 yrs ago. One got it and then it went through all of them. It can cause severe damage to the eyes. 

Salt won't help. They told us that too. It just made them mad. I don't know of anything you can do from a distance. We called the vet and we had to put a head gate in that day to treat them all. Alot of work but worth it. It took many treatments but they recovered. A yearling heifer lost one eye.

Do what you can to cut down on flies. Tall grass heads will aggrevate it. IMO you should call your vet. They say it is really bad this year.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Since you cannot get them in a head gate you can possible feed an antibiotic. Feeding oxytetracycline in animal feed has been reported to help. You may want to do some research before trying it.


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## freedomfrom4 (Jul 27, 2009)

We have a head gate and can get them in it but it is not attached to a shoot. It is attached to the feed trough and you tempt one in with feed and lock em in. It would be an increadible job to treat all them individually. I think we need a shoot and new cows, but that is another story. Do those ear tags that repell fly's work?


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Here's a previous thread from not too long ago. Perhaps it will help. 

I think the medicated feed is called Aureomycin Crumbles 4G; it may help, but won't be as good as a shot of antibiotics (Biomycin 200 can be used). 

Salt in the eye is not recommended. 

Maybe you could borrow a portable chute and use corral panels with it? 

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/livestock-forums/cattle/442915-pink-eye.html

Here's a brief summary on pinkeye:
McDowell CountyÂ Center: Treatment of Pinkeye in Cattle

Here's a longer version complete with pictures:
Pinkeye in Beef Cattle - Home - Virginia Cooperative Extension

Hope you can get them treated.


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## Kato2010 (Jun 24, 2012)

There is a vaccine for pinkeye. If it was us, we'd bite the bullet, take a day off and put them through the chute. Give all of them a shot of vaccine, and give those with active pinkeye a shot of LA along with the vaccine. 

Seems like a lot of trouble, but the problem would be over and done with. Sometimes the vaccine alone will clean it up. We vaccinate all our bulls with both footrot and pinkeye vaccine every year just because they're such a nuisance to treat. 

Not treating will leave them with anything from scarred eyeballs to blind eyes to eyes that just collapse and dry up. The flytags will help keep flies off, but won't help the pinkeye. They're more of a preventative thing to lower the spreading ability of a potential outbreak.


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## ycanchu2 (Oct 21, 2011)

Background: my Hereford / Angus herd has never had it until now, neither has any of the cattle here since I can remember back to my Grandparents. It's a closed herd for the last 5 yrs. I'm with them almost every day either moving fence in the summer, or feeding hay in the winter. Most will let me walk up and scratch their back. Last week the matriarch of the herd was down and I was hauling water and hay to her in a pasture separate from the herd. (her story is another post). Well, during the week that she was down, I didn't see the rest of them; when I let them back in the pasture with her, I found 3 of 26 with pink eye. I don't have a corral or adequate handling facilities, so the vet wasn't much help, except to provide me with 2 bottles ($140) worth of NuFlor (I'm not bad mouthing him, he's a good guy from what I can tell). So, I drank the Medi-dart Kool-Aid and had a 6' Medi-Dart pole shipped 2nd day air. To make this long story short, I wouldn't recommend this tool unless you have a corral or some sort of confinement. This pole will do nothing for you in the pasture even with a tame herd (if you have to do it, spend the 400 for the crossbow). Between the tool and the medicine I'm out a bunch of money with nothing to show; and to get to the real point of the post- what do you all do for pink eye? Any chance there is something they can ingest? Any chance the cows will beat it on their own? If not, how long do I have until they go blind? 

I will probably get shot down too but I'll offer my advice anyway. mix up a solution of seasalt water, put it in a garden sprayer and get as close as you can and spray their eyes with it. I have had real good results with it, seeing improvement the next day. My cattle don't like being got up too many times in a row, so this way I can treat them out in the field, ...no stress on me or them.
Before anyone starts gnashing their teeth saying how harsh it may seem to be, let me remind you if you have ever been to the ocean, did you get saltwater in your eyes if it did burn it wasn;t that bad and any cuts or wounds on your body would heal right away. Salt especially sea salt is a healer like an antibiotic.
I rarely have over 3 or 4 cases a year out of a 100 cow herd plus almost as many calves this time of year. This year to date I haven't had the first case, thankfully. About a year ago I started feeding sea salt free choice it has a myriad of trace minerals, far more than conventional TM salt. In my opinion, most problems including pinkeye is caused by some kind of imbalance that we have created either by commercial fertilization, overgrazing, Ammonia nitrate etc. or even some of the minerals/tubs that we feed where they can stand and eat it like candy.
About losing an eye or not. Last year I had a calf that i didn't treat with the sea salt thinking it would clear up it went blind in that eye, soon after my herd bull got a watery eye just like the calf did, but I treated him a couple of times with sea salt water and he got just fine. 
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## ycanchu2 (Oct 21, 2011)

Everything may change tomorrow, but to date this year I have not had one case of pinkeye in my hundred cow herd along with almost ninety calves from two to five hundred lbs.
I started feeding sea salt(Redmonds) about a year ago and right now and for the last few months that is the only salt/mineral supplementaion they get. My cattle look as good and slick as ever.
I use no commercial fertilize, grain, and I do rotational grazing. The more that I eliminate the things that cause imbalances, the healthier the cattle seem to be.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

I have a friend that uses the sea salt water mixture in one of those KIDS WATER SOAKER gun...he says it works best to spray way up on the head around the poll and let it go down into the eyes


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## freedomfrom4 (Jul 27, 2009)

The eye ball now has a protrusion. From reading I think it is the cornea on a stalk like stem. Yep it is bad. It is really weird. There is something sticking out that moves with the eye. It is going through the herd and the neighbor that vaccinated has it too.


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

I'm sorry to hear this. Pinkeye is very contagious and needs to be treated sooner, not later. Did you look at the photos on this site?

Pinkeye in Beef Cattle - Home - Virginia Cooperative Extension

Cows will probably lose sight. It's time to get your vet involved but you're going to need to set up something with your headgate so that they can be treated.


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

I bought a spray early his spring when I thought I might have it (didn't tho) will have to look tomorrow and see the name...not sure how many times you can suprise spray them in the eyes before they catch on...


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## ycanchu2 (Oct 21, 2011)

farmgirl6 said:


> I bought a spray early his spring when I thought I might have it (didn't tho) will have to look tomorrow and see the name...not sure how many times you can suprise spray them in the eyes before they catch on...


The best thing I have found if I really had to do something quick when they are out on the back forty and its a 100 degrees is to get one of those portable ATV sprayers with the electric DC pump that hooks to your battery. You can shoot a stream a long way with one of those, it will probably shoot a stream 40 or 50 feet. Just soak their head. If you do use one of those, just remember to clean it thoroughly after a few days because the salt will lock it up cold if you don't....I'm speaking from experience here.


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## ImaCannin (Jun 27, 2010)

Several years ago, I had 5 steers and one cow come down with Pink Eye. I took them to the vet and put them in the head gate. The vet gave them a shot in the eye and did some other stuff to them... Got home and they all cleared up. A few days later, one steer got pink eye again. I took him the the vet and the vet treated him again. Vet said if he came down with it again there was nothing he could do. A friend told me to go to the natural health guy and buy a 50.00 bag of sea kelp and give it to them free choice. A few days later I got the kelp, put it out free choice for the gang. They all ate. The one steer who had it twice had white covered eye balls by this time. After about 3 days on the sea kelp, his eyes were completely cleared up. I saw the vet about a month later and he inquired about the steer. I told him about the kelp and his eye was completely cleared up. The vet was in disbelief. 

From what I understand the animals with pink eye are lacking minerals. Sea kelp is high in minerals. You can get it from Azure Standard - Quality Bulk & Natural Foods If you are not aware they are like a co-op you can buy from. They deliver once or twice a month through out the country. The sea kelp is at Azure Standard 
or search their site for Thorvin Kelp Gran ASCO Ani/Fert (Blue Label), Organic . 

We get 10 bags at a time, as it is cheaper to ship that many by freight than it is to ship one bag by UPS. We buy ours at North American Kelp North American Kelp

On a good note, kelp increased the milk production in my goats by 25%. You can add it to your garden and increase yields. 

As ycanchu2 said, Redmonds salt Redmond Natural: Real Results. Naturally. is also great to use. I use that for my goats, sheep, steers , chickens and I eat it non stop! I put the # 4 minerals on my pastures and had an explosion of growth of grass. It was like walking on the tundra..... Lush green masses of grass. It was well into winter before they could eat it down. 

Both options would work for wild critters as you can just put the redmonds rock out and they will lick it or put out a bucket of sea kelp.


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## ycanchu2 (Oct 21, 2011)

ImaCannin said:


> Several years ago, I had 5 steers and one cow come down with Pink Eye. I took them to the vet and put them in the head gate. The vet gave them a shot in the eye and did some other stuff to them... Got home and they all cleared up. A few days later, one steer got pink eye again. I took him the the vet and the vet treated him again. Vet said if he came down with it again there was nothing he could do. A friend told me to go to the natural health guy and buy a 50.00 bag of sea kelp and give it to them free choice. A few days later I got the kelp, put it out free choice for the gang. They all ate. The one steer who had it twice had white covered eye balls by this time. After about 3 days on the sea kelp, his eyes were completely cleared up. I saw the vet about a month later and he inquired about the steer. I told him about the kelp and his eye was completely cleared up. The vet was in disbelief.
> 
> From what I understand the animals with pink eye are lacking minerals. Sea kelp is high in minerals. You can get it from Azure Standard - Quality Bulk & Natural Foods If you are not aware they are like a co-op you can buy from. They deliver once or twice a month through out the country. The sea kelp is at Azure Standard
> or search their site for Thorvin Kelp Gran ASCO Ani/Fert (Blue Label), Organic .
> ...


Great story..I believe it, I have never used the kelp but thought it must be good stuff. How much is it a bag? I really like the redmond sea salt, been using it for about a year now No pinkeye so far this year we will have to see what the rest of the summer brings but the cattle look great. I have stopped feeding the other beef minerals. it always puzzled me why my cattle would get pinkeye in the past when they were being fed a high quality expensive mineral. Which by the way if they didn't flavor it up with molasses and or distillers grain they would not touch it.
This spring I had some lime dumped in several spots on my farm so I could spread it with a buggy. I started getting paranoid about the cattle getting in there and eating the lime because there was no way I could get it all up off of the ground. Thinking they were starved for calcium, but they didn't hardly touch it, I guess they may have tasted it out of curiosity, but they didn't eat it and they are around it all the time.


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