PINKEYE infections in weaner cattle in northern NSW has resulted in many producers having to hold onto their stock rather then selling, despite dry conditions.
Local Land Services northern tablelands district vet Nigel Brown, Glen Innes, said they are finding a lot of cases of Pinkeye around the region at this time.
“We get it every year but this year it is bad,” Dr Brown said. “It is happening because of the dry conditions and increased levels of dust, causing eye irritations.”
Due to the drought, a large majority of producers are choosing to early wean calves in yard weaning situations where dust and cross-contamination can take place.
“Infection is occurring before, during and after weaning,” he said. "Producers are getting stock into the yard at weaning and bringing infected cattle into a confined space alongside those that are clear, which can cause the bacteria to spread.”
Some producers are finding they are unable to offload cattle because of the severity of the Pinkeye infection.
He said despite flies being a common vector for the transmission of germs from one animal to the other, he has noticed there has been less flies around this year.
One such producer that has found an increased amount of Pinkeye infection through both their cow herd and weaners is Cathy Williamson and husband Andrew from Myanbah, Yarrowyck. “This year has definitely been worse than others, which we assume is due to the dust,” she said.
Vaccination before the onset of infection is a key to preventing the spread, but once the event period has started it is too late to think about.
“It is important to be ahead of the game. Farmers tend to know whether they are going to get it so they should be vaccinating before infection sets in,” Dr Brown said.
Dr Brown said is important to note that the vaccine does not carry all the germs that cause Pinkeye.
“There is about three to four in the vaccine, but nine to 10 different organisms can get into the eye and cause a problem,” he said. “It is not going to work on all.”
For this reason, the Williamsons chose not to vaccinate their stock.
“We didn’t vaccinate, as not all strands that cause the infection are covered by the vaccine and you might get lucky and it works, or it might not,” Ms Williamson said.
After the onset of infection, farmers are encouraged to treat stock and quarantine animals where possible.
An injection of vitamin A is recommended. “Drought fed cattle tend to have low levels of vitamin A in their systems, therefore by boosting that up it can make a big difference,” he said.
Dr Brown said if producers are finding problems, it may be a good time to look into what the mineral status.
“Selenium is fundamental in reducing or resisting infection because it is an integral part used in antibodies,” he said. “Selenium deficiency means the animals is not going to have as good antibody production to fight off infection and may result in them running into non-specific problems such as Pinkeye.”
“I don’t want to give anyone the impression that it would improve the situation, but it needs to be considered.”
Producers trading stock and bringing animals in from here, there and everywhere are likely to have a wide range of strands of organisms that might or might not be affected by the vaccine.
“A closed herd with the same issues going on means it is likely to be the same narrow band of germs each year, depending on what the neighbours are going and where or how close they are,” he said.
“If people are reasonable well separated from neighbours, they are likely to contain themselves.”
