With summer arriving, treating pinkeye is an issue many cattle producers will face. As conditions get drier, dust levels rise, increasing eye irritants that can lead to this painful infection. Pinkeye doesn’t just affect the health of your cattle; it has a significant economic impact as well. Each year, pinkeye costs the cattle industry approximately $150 million due to decreased weight gain, reduced milk production, and the expenses associated with treatment.
However, there are proactive steps you can take when this bacteria makes its appearance on your ranch. Treating pinkeye infections early in your cattle is not just a matter of their health but also a crucial step to protect your investment. Delaying treatment increases the risk of permanent eye damage, leading to severe discounts at sale time and significantly impacting your revenue. The visible signs of pinkeye can diminish the perceived value of your cattle, emphasizing the importance of swift action.
Given that early treatment is vital, prevention is the optimal strategy. Pinkeye is highly contagious, and once it infiltrates your herd, it can rapidly spread. In the following post, we will delve into the causes of pinkeye, effective treatment options, and the best prevention strategies to keep your herd healthy and your operation profitable. Stay tuned to ensure you are equipped with the knowledge to combat this costly disease.
What causes pinkeye in cattle?
Pinkeye, or infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis, is a prevalent disease in cattle. It causes redness and ulcers in the eye, inflicts significant pain on your cattle, and leads to economic losses. The financial impact is due to reduced cattle value and weaning weights.
Moraxella bovis is the primary cause of pinkeye in cattle, but other bacteria and viruses can also cause this disease. These bacteria can infect the eye but won’t necessarily cause pinkeye unless there is an irritant to the eye. Problems with the cattle’s immune system can also cause the bacteria to cause this disease.
Some common irritants that can cause pinkeye in cattle:
- Ultraviolet (UV) light, also known as sunlight
- Flies, most commonly the face fly
- Tallgrass, the seed head of these tall grasses, can scratch the eyes of cattle
- Dust and sand (goes without saying)
This disease has been known to occur anytime throughout the year, but it occurs most frequently during the summer months. It occurs mainly in summer, most likely due to the increase in irritants like the ones listed above. Also, while it has infected all cattle breeds, it affects those with a lack of pigmentation around the eyes. Breeds such as Herefords are particularly prone to this.
Excessive tearing and squinting of the affected eye are two of the most common signs that your cattle have pinkeye. Once they show this, they need to be treated. If you wait too long, the eye will become cloudy, and an ulcer will begin to form. If you are interested, I go into more detail about the symptoms and signs of pinkeye in a previous article, “How to treat cattle pinkeye”.
Ways to treat and prevent cattle pinkeye
While it may be near impossible to pinpoint the exact cause of this disease, there are ways to prevent it from happening.
Step #1: Maintain good overall herd health
Following good nutrition and vaccination protocols to maintain good herd health will go a long way in preventing this disease from happening. A compromised immune system is one of the causes listed above that causes this to happen.
Now, the knee-jerk response to this is to think that feeding your cattle a large number of minerals, especially the ones that support eye health, is the way to go. But that is not the case. My research and that of various institutions show no evidence that feeding excessive levels of vitamins or minerals does anything.
Step #2: Control flies
Preventing face flies is the best way to prevent pinkeye. If you are looking for ways to control flies, check out my previous article, “How do you control flies on cattle?”
The pest known as face flies is a double whammy when it comes to pinkeye with cattle. They are irritants, but once they feed on the secretions from an infected cow, they can spread the disease to other cattle. Spreading the disease and the fact that they can negatively affect weaning weights themselves is enough incentive to get these pests under control.
Step# 3: Keep the cattle’s environment as irritant-free as possible
Now, this alone may seem near impossible, but it is far easier than you may think. Keeping the environment irritant-free can include something as simple as following suitable housekeeping measures around your operation. Another step you can take is to mow down any overly tall grasses in your pasture.
Providing some shade for your cattle can go a long way, as well. Providing shade is a good idea because overexposure to bright sunlight can cause pinkeye to occur. Now, understand that this does not mean you have to build many shelters in your place. Just making sure that there are enough shade trees around is more than sufficient to meet your needs.
Step #4: Minimize the impact of the exposure
Minimizing the impact can be accomplished through early detection of the disease in your herd. Once you have identified the infected cows, you will need to separate them from the rest of the herd to prevent them from spreading.
Following these steps, you’ll need to treat infected animals with a suitable antibiotic. Rest assured, long-acting antibiotics, such as those in the tetracycline family, have been proven in countless studies, like those done by Virginia Tech, to treat pinkeye effectively. This should give you confidence in the treatment process.
Some have claimed that aureomycin can treat pinkeye. However, I have found no evidence to support this. Even the product listing on Zoetis’s website doesn’t show that it can.
Step #5: Consider vaccinating cattle for pinkeye
When it comes to vaccines, there are a couple of different routes that you can take. There are both commercial and autogenous vaccines that are available. Like any treatment, there are pros and cons to going with either option.
Going with a full disclaimer, finding a vaccine that effectively prevents pinkeye from occurring in the first place can be challenging. The nature of Moraxella Bovis and the other bacteria makes it difficult to make a vaccine that will work from ranch to ranch.
Due to this, it is always best to consult your local veterinarian to develop a prevention and treatment plan that will work for your operation.
