HELP!! Steer's hair is falling out

[SKF]

My daughers steer thats going to the fair in three weeks is losing is hair in big clumps. Two days ago his hair was fine today he is missing large patches of hair. It's not rign worm. It looks like mange. Do cows get mange? He lost a bunch on his butt and now he looks like a baboon. I don't know if it could be something we are feeding? We are feeding Showmaster and we are adding the showmaster power phat. Any ideas????

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

LICE!

 

[shortyjock89]

Yeah,sounds like lice, but that Power Phat will burn them up in a hurry. Feed very much of it, and you can take all the hair right off of them..

 

[SKF]

I don't think its lice because we do Ivomect and we've neve had a lice problem before. I am pushing him hard to make weight so he is getting a lot of the power phat.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

There are very few feed ingrediants that would make hair fall out in patches un less the animal is having an allergic reaction to one or more of the provided feed stuffs. Is the hair falling out or is he rubbing it off when turned out at night?

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

If you have absolutely ruled out lice or ring worm - look at any enviromental changes that have taken place. Different bedding, stall etc. etc. I don't know the timing of your ivormec application but if there are infected animals acrossed the fence that would also be a possability assuming the application was early enough for the residual to have worn off.

 

[afhm]

It's the time of year for lice, and you have described a classic case of a show calf with lice.  Even though you have treated him, treat him again.  Bayer makes a great product called Cylence that will work for the lice, you can also dip him with a small amount of Lintox mixed with water.Be sure and condition his hair and skin.  We pour a bucket of water and  mane n tail (about a palm full) mixed together on them to help keep the hair in.  Make sure he can't rub on anything to get the hair out as well.

 

[renegade]

I swear by cylence. It has worked really well for me.

 

[TJ]

I agree with the others... it sounds like lice to me. 

 

[SKF]

I am going to check him over good today but I can't imagine where he would have gotten lice. All the other steers that he was kept with are gone and he has not been taken anywhere in the last couple of months. Is it to late to treat him for lice he goes to slaughter in three weeks. How contagious is it to other cattle?

 

[reno1014]

Birds!  I never had a lice problem before...ever.  I always prided myself on an extreamly clean barn, when I found lice on my sons show goats
I investigated and found that the lice comes from birds.  Our steers are now being treated for lice also because I noticed when we washed the
hair was coming out in handfulls!  One has a spot the size of a baseball where the hair is gone.  We do have a large amount of fowl like sparrows, Dove, and
the like.

 

[chambero]

I'd almost guarantee you its lice.  They get it from birds, rodents, just about anything.  Its always around.  Ivomec will work for a very short time, but it doesn't prevent it for very long and does not work nearly as good as Cylence. 

 

[reno1014]

Lice is very contagious.  If you treat them, you need to do it once and then about 14-20 days later.  Lice lay eggs that hatch and if you don't stay
on top of it, it will recycle itself over and over. 

 

[red]

SKF- it could be rain rot or hot spots. You need an antibiotic like pnc to take care of it. Trust me, I know from experience how devastaing it can be! It's when the hair gets wet & air can't get in to dry it. a bacteria forms & you loose hair in clumps.

Red

 

[SKF]

SKF- it could be rain rot or hot spots. You need an antibiotic like pnc to take care of it. Trust me, I know from experience how devastaing it can be! It's when the hair gets wet & air can't get in to dry it. a bacteria forms & you loose hair in clumps.

Red

Red- I never thought about hot spot. When we use to raise German Shepherd they would get hot spots and that's what it looks like. We had a steer a few years ago that we purchased from up north it came with lice and the hair that was falling out was all in one general area. This is all over his body and it is falling out by the handfull. One day his hair was fine and the next day it was just gone in some spots. We do have some younger calves in the barn that we are weaning and they are fine. I am going to treat him for lice even though I don't see any but he has real long think hair so I might not notice it. He is going to his terminal show in 3 weeks. Now I just need  some kind of maricale to get some hair back before the fair because he looks BAD!

 

[strawroanlova]

My daughers steer thats going to the fair in three weeks is losing is hair in big clumps. Two days ago his hair was fine today he is missing large patches of hair. It's not rign worm. It looks like mange. Do cows get mange? He lost a bunch on his butt and now he looks like a baboon. I don't know if it could be something we are feeding? We are feeding Showmaster and we are adding the showmaster power phat. Any ideas????

i dont think its what ur feeding because i feed showmaster and that has not happened to my steer,however i do not feed power phat so it could be that

 

[SKF]

My daughers steer thats going to the fair in three weeks is losing is hair in big clumps. Two days ago his hair was fine today he is missing large patches of hair. It's not rign worm. It looks like mange. Do cows get mange? He lost a bunch on his butt and now he looks like a baboon. I don't know if it could be something we are feeding? We are feeding Showmaster and we are adding the showmaster power phat. Any ideas????

i dont think its what ur feeding because i feed showmaster and that has not happened to my steer,however i do not feed power phat so it could be that

I don't think its the showmaster feed but possiably the showmaster power phat.

 

[red]

ok, first treat w/ pcn. then make sure you dry him out completelty every time. Don't put anything thick or heavy on the spots. I used a light coat of baby oil. Just keep hom dry & treat. you'll start seeing new growth almost right away.

Red

 

[afhm]

Why not put some pics on here and we can be a little more positive if it is lice or what.

 

[renegade]

Red that baby oil thing worked GREAT!!! Thanks!!!! He did get one spot on his back after the ones on his face and i dont really know how but it is getting hair back too.  The ones on his face are hardly noticeable now. I got the baby oil with aloe and vitiman e