Calf Talk

May, 2008

Volume 14, No. 5

CONTROL FLIES AND VACCINATE FOR PINKEYE

By: Russ Schnepper, D.V.M

Pinkeye Vaccines help protect the cattle from pinkeye infections, but fly control is most important. We have pinkeye vaccine in combination with 7 way black leg. The vaccines are labeled to be repeated in 3 to 4 weeks. It is impossible to prevent pinkeye without fly control.Our clients are having very good results controlling both flies and lice with Ultra Boss. It is safe and legal to use on dairy cattle and veal calves as well. Schering now has a legal claim for use of Ultra Boss on horses and goats. Schering has proven one dose of Ultra Boss persists long enough to kill the hatching louse eggs, hence a one dose claim to control lice.

Mectin pour ons such as Eprinex, Dectomax, Ivomec, Cydectin and the long list of generics do work for both lice and flies. However, the over use of these products as well as the under dosing is already producing ivermectin resistant worms. Continual use of these products, especially when we really do not need them for many situations, is well on the way to creating a large population of worms that will be able to survive the treatment. We are rapidly getting to the point that the only way to kill the worm is to put it on a block and hit it with a hammer. I am hoping we will only use the wormers when we need them and not for flies and lice, where we have effective products that are not wormers. Then maybe the mectins will continue to work for a while.

Do not use injectable Ivomec nor Dectomax to attempt to control lice. The first year Ivomec was on the market, many veal raisers injected Ivomec for lice and were very shocked at being penalized for lice at slaughter. The normal flora of lice on a calf is made up of two kinds. One is a sucking louse, which is controlled by the injectable insecticide. The other is a biting louse, which is not killed by the injectable. Normally the two types of lice compete with each other for food and space on the calf. When one is eliminated (in this case the sucking lice) there is no competition for the biting lice and they multiply many times faster than normal. The end result is there are more lice on the calf than if it had not been treated.

Ultra Boss Is very effective against flies as a pour on. It can be repeated as necessary, but not more often than every 2 weeks. The effectiveness lasts from 2 to 4 weeks. Pouring for flies is more effective than spraying the cows while they are in the barn. The next time you run cows into the milking barn, watch and see what the flies do. They do not go into the barn to be killed by the fly spray. Instead they jump off the cow and sit on the outside of the barn and wait for the cows to come back out. Pouring for flies becomes much more efficient at killing flies than the spraying. Ultra Boss can also be mixed with diesel fuel and applied by a back rubber.

A fly tag on a calf in a hutch will keep the flies out of the hutch. Hutch calves and veal calves can also be poured with Ultra Boss for flies and lice..

QuickBayt has proven to be very good at killing flies for the past four years. QuickBayt is a fast acting ready-to-use scatter bait with 0.5% imidacolprid and two attractants. It works in less than 60 seconds. QuickBayt contains a bittering agent to help prevent accidental ingestion by children, farm animals and pets.

Ultra Boss and QuickBayt will help make this fly season less annoying.

Contact information for ordering information and questions about our products:

Schnepper International, Inc.

3210 County B, Platteville, WI 53818

608-348-6141, Fax: 608-348-6146