Megamectin

[cakadu]

WoolyBear - several years ago DE or Diatomacious earth did make the rounds and there are still people that use it today. Some who tried it had disastrous results and others found it worked well. Why it worked in some situations and not others is hard to tell - management practices definitely come to mind as a factor that could produce different results.

Are there breeds of cattle that would have some natural resistance to internal parasites? I know with our hair sheep that they do in fact have a natural resistance to internal parasites and I would guess that with the hair rather than wool that we rarely see any problems with lice either. We do keep an eye out for parasitic problems and fecal floats are done regularly, we just don't follow any type of regimen.

Kato, where Safeguard is really good is that it gets the worms that bury deep into the gut and reappear during times of stress such as calving. There is a term for it, but it escapes me at the moment. Valbazen is another one that gets those types of parasites. Both are drenches and need to be given orally. The only downside is that they don't do anything for lice - just internal parasites.

[nerves]

I wonder also grassfarmer how much the animals color comes into play here to. Maybe some of these parasites are more attracked to certain colors? I took a pack trip with horses about 15 years ago through a rugged part of B.C. and the horseflys and the blackflys were chewing up the dark colored horses to the point were if you rubbed the horses between the front legs were they sweat your palm would red with blood. Yet the sorrels and lighter colored horses were getting chewed on once in awhile but nothing like the dark ones. Weather and climate also plays a big role here to in my opinion. I noticed more lice and ringworm on dry years than on years with more rain fall. I am not a bug expert but these some personal observations.

[cowman]

I winter my cows in an area that has a lot of willow brush. The cows just love to get in there and do the old scratch routine every spring...lice or no lice!
Some of them lose a bit of hair but no big deal. A month later it is all over.
Have you ever found a louse on a cow after she sheds her winter coat? Now I'm talking about the little red lice not the blue lice. Haven't really seen any blue lice on my cattle for many years.
Now if I gave a rip what anyone thinks of my cattle or I was trying to sell purebreds then obviously I'd have to do something, but for commercial cattle? Who cares?
I like to think I raise a pretty decent product that has a very minimum of chemical additives. I feed a very good mineral/salt mix, adequate feed and lots of good straw. I rarely ever use an antibiotic and I keep my vaccinations down to a minimum. Now mostly because I am cheap and sort of lazy, but also because I think that is the way beef should be raised! I know I don't want to be eating any old Ivomec, or Scour guard, or recycled cow parts!

[grassfarmer]

Nerves, the colour preference I notice is for white. My Charolais bulls get covered with flies compared to the cows - is that because they are white or because they are bulls?

[nerves]

I have noticed this to were if run your hand down thier back you can kill hundreds of flies. It is probably a white bull thing or a bull thing, because the cows that are standing around him have no were near the flies the bull has. When we had the large group of commercial cows if a cow had pinkeye it was usally a herford, we didn't have any black whitefaces in the herd so I don't know if the flies were more attracked to the red or the black. Cowman maybe some organic rancher will tell us there is something in that willow dust that chases the lice out. I know that willow dust can make my eyes burn when I'm putting it in a brush pile.

[cowman]

Well I've never heard of willow dust! What the hell is that nerves?
Maybe we need to do some research or something? We just might be able to run the chemical boys right out of business!

[nerves]

Cowman there is dust on all trees and each has a differnt smell. Most of our cat work is done in the fall and winter. So the fan blades on the radiator of the cat are turned to suck in the air through the radiator into a shrouded area of the cat. The dust off these trees blows onto you. Differnt trees have differnt smells and I find the taller willows and poplar have dusts or pollen that is very hard on my eyes. But it definatly comes off the trees. You get most of it when you walk the trees down before you pile them.