Prevent Pinkeye Pain for Your Cattle with Brad White

Have you ever counted how many times you blink? Normally, no, but if you have a corneal scratch (i.e. pinkeye), you certainly would. The pain is the same for cattle, so Dr. Brad White with K-State University's Beef Cattle Institute gives tips on identifying, treating and preventing pinkeye.

Today's host is Angus Beef Bulletin intern Taylor Edwards, a senior agricultural communications student at Auburn University. She comes from Brierfield, Alabama, from a small commercial cow-calf operation.

Today's sponsor is Lallemand Animal Nutrition.

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Transcript

Hello and welcome back to Angus At Work. Today you are in for a treat because this episode is chock full of practical information about recognizing, treating and preventing pinkeye. But even more importantly, today's host is Taylor Edwards. She's the Angus Beef Bulletin intern this summer. She's an agricultural communications senior with an animal science minor at Auburn University. She comes to us from Briar Field, Alabama from a small commercial cow-calf background. Today she chats with Angus Beef Bulletin's Health and Husbandry column author Brad White with the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State University. Today's episode is brought to you by Lallemand Animal Nutrition. Now let's dig in.

Taylor Edwards:

Good morning, Dr. White, how are you today?

Brad White:

I'm good. How are you, Taylor?

Taylor Edwards:

Doing pretty good. So, you're a veterinarian at K State working with the Beef Cattle Institute. What kind of sparked that passion for veterinary medicine and beef cattle?

Brad White:

Oh, good question, Taylor. As you mentioned, I work at the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State University and get to work with a lot of great people on our team that work in all facets of beef production. And I would say one of the things that... I may even veer off a little bit and say one of the things that continues my passion for doing this is being able to work with the producers, the veterinarians, and the students engaged in the beef industry because I think there's a lot folks doing great work with beef cattle.

Taylor Edwards:

I think the people and the people who genuinely care about the industry are what make it so great to be a part of and work in.

Brad White:

Yep, absolutely.

Taylor Edwards:

Something we've been hearing a lot about, and I'm sure you have too, is pinkeye. Let's do a quick overview of what exactly is pinkeye.

Brad White:

Sure, no problem, Taylor. We think about pinkeye in cattle and this is something that comes up every summer. As we talk through some of the issues associated with it, it's important to understand some of the causes, some of the factors that lead to pinkeye and what it looks like in the field. I may start with what it looks like in the field and what we see with cattle with pink eye, some of the early signs are there will be squinting. So, the squinting or aversion to sunlight, maybe a lot of watering of that eye, but sometimes we don't see it that early. Sometimes we see it when you see the calf that's out there or the cow that has that big right white spot on their eye or it seems like the entire eye is turning is white. So, those are some of the signs that we see with pinkeye.

Taylor Edwards:

How early in the summertime should we start being on the lookout for that so we can try to catch it early?

Brad White:

Yeah, great question. You can see it about any time through the summer and to think about when we would see it, let's think about what it actually is and what causes it. Pinkeye is essentially inflammation plus or minus infection of that cornea of the eye. The cornea is the surface of your eye, which is very sensitive. If you've ever had a scratched cornea, it is a very, very painful thing and something, that most of us don't keep track of how many times a day we blink unless you have a corneal ulcer. Then you start keeping track of it because it's very painful.

Cattle can have irritation of that eye, the surface of that eye and lots of things can lead to that irritation. Weed seeds, grass seeds. This time of year when we get into areas of the country that are dry and that grass has become mature and very stemy, as they're going down to graze, they can scratch their eye on some of that grass. Once you get a little bit of that irritation. Cattle have a couple bacteria that we have associated with pinkeye. The most common one we think of is called Moraxella bovis. There's another one that's called Moraxella bovoculi, both of which we see in association with pinkeye, but sometimes there's something that tipped it off.

Because that cornea we talked about, that surface of the eye is actually a pretty darn good barrier to bacteria unless it's disrupted. And once it's disrupted, that bacteria can kind of set up sharp and make that corneal ulcer expands. The other thing that I would throw in there that plays a role, the sunlight, the UV rays, actually can be challenging to that eye, especially if it's damaged. Those bacteria also can be moved from animal to animal by flies. So, face flies are the ones that we think about. Often, we talk flies in cattle. I think it's important to make a distinction. Flies are not all the same.

Face flies in cattle look like your common house fly. Relatively big, typically land on the face, as you would probably expect from the name. The face flies, 10 to 20 face flies is a lot, and those face flies what they do is they're eating those lacrimal secretions or the tears and they will go from cattle to cattle and they can spread that bacteria basically on their legs. Before I leave the flies, the other type of flies that we talk about in cattle is horn flies, which land primarily on the sides. I don't know why they named that way, but they'll land on the sides of the cattle and are typically smaller.

So, if you go out and you see flies on the back or the sides of the cattle, those are horn flies. Not the ones that we're concerned about with pinkeye transmission, but they are ones that we're a little bit concerned about that can cause issues with the cattle and irritation of different sorts.

Taylor Edwards:

Okay, so you mentioned some of the things that kind of head off that pinkeye or get it started and then the flies spreading it. What are some things we can do to kind of be mindful and mitigate those?

Brad White:

Yeah. One of the things that we can do is we'll work on our fly control program, which is comprehensive. Work on our pasture management program. And when we think about fly control, there's lots of tools and techniques and I would encourage you to work with your veterinarian, talk to the extension folks, come up with a strategy. The reason that I think a strategy is important is sometimes, and I find myself falling into this rut once in a while, that I am reactive.

I don't think anything about it, don't think anything about it. Go out one day and there's a bunch of flies and I'm like, "Holy cow, I got to do something," and then I do something and then I don't really have a plan. I don't have a follow-up. I may not have all the stuff I need. Whereas with a strategy, my strategy could be, "Okay, I am going to combine having some back rubbers with some timely application of topical insecticides," right? And that's my summer strategy versus me going out one day and saying I'm going to treat some. Because one of the things we worry about in flies, like any other parasite, is resistance to some of the chemicals that we use.

One way that we can encourage resistance is... And when I say encourage, basically we're selecting for it. If I apply not the right dose or I don't dose the right animals at the right time, then what I can do is I can select for flies that are resistant to those chemicals. A great example is fly tags, which can be an excellent tool for controlling flies when applied in a timely fashion. They don't last forever. Look carefully on how long those fly tags are going to last. But sometimes, for example, we're working cattle in April or may before turnout to pasture and we say, "This is the convenient time. I would like to put in my fly tags now."

Well, if I put in fly tags May 1 and I've got a two-month fly tag that's going in, they're going to be a lot less effective by the time I roll around to August, September where I've really got a lot of flies and then I may not have got all my bang for the buck out of it. This varies by region of the country, but my take home is, have a strategy. Don't be reactive to, "Man, I got a lot of flies. Now what?" Have a plan for what you're going to do and have a plan if you have breakthrough and you do have a lot of flies.

Taylor Edwards:

I think being prepared and doing things ahead of a time applies across the industry and a whole lot of things. But oftentimes we don't think, "Hey, this is an issue," until you see it.

Brad White:

Oh, exactly right. And back to the question you asked me earlier, which I don't think I answered well is when we're looking for pinkeye, when we identify those. So, in the individual calf, and we talked about finding them early, so if you see those calves with water, and I keep saying calves because we will see occasional herds, cow calf herds, that will have it in the cows. But for the most part, it's the calves that are primarily affected. In those calves, if you have some with watery eyes, then again you're going to come up with a treatment plan, a treatment strategy, working with your veterinarians.

So, there are antibiotics that we can use with some of the new guidances, the new plans, you're going to have to have a veterinary client patient relationship to use those antimicrobials to treat this disease. And working with your veterinarian, they can help you select the right one. If we treat them early in the process, it's much more effective. I broadly defined it as kind of two stages. Eye watery, really blinky, keeping that eye closed a lot and then, okay, well I see a big white opacity or whiteness to that outside of the eye.

If I catch them at that early stage, I've got a lot better chance of having less long-term issues because that cornea, that surface of the eye is where that bacteria is. And if I can treat them and manage it, and it's not just antimicrobials, sometimes people will use an eye patch, sometimes people will use other things to manage the housing of those animals. Then hopefully I can avoid them getting to that later stage. Now at that later stage as they progress through pinkeye, you will see that big white eye. Sometimes they'll turn what looks a little bit blue. Sometimes there will be some scarring.

For cattle that are going to be feeder animals, maybe less of a concern. We do want to prevent them from getting blindness and we want to manage them as much as we can. You will have some of those that end up with a white spot or a scar on that eye. Earlier treatment is better. Again, back to part of my plan is, if I have an outbreak, I'm not just going to treat the individuals. I'm going to look at their environment. Is there something in that environment, be it be it grass or other that's irritating those eyes? Some areas of the country you go in and you'll mow that grass. Other areas you will try to manage your grazing to keep the grass from getting quite so mature.

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Taylor Edwards:

When you're looking at trying to start addressing those things, is the grass something you would typically look at first?

Brad White:

Yeah, I think the grass and the flies and the rest of the environment. And I mentioned if you have one of those sick calves, you may want to change their environment. That's not always possible. We've got calves nursing cows, we're not going to be easy to get them out of there. If I do have stockers or something like that, I may be able. So, the sunlight is irritating, but one thing you want to avoid is taking that calf and putting it in a nice dark barn, which would be good for the darkness, but it's also great for fly production. Then you're kind of have to figure out, what are my trade offs?

A lot of times I will try to keep them in that pasture or manage in a pasture, but I'm looking for other potential eye irritants. Now, there are some other things that I think about through that process and you and I talked about a couple of them before we got on as we think about holistic type prevention. One, I want to be on a good vitamin mineral supplement for the summer, so have a good vitamin mineral supplement. I don't think this is often associated with a deficiency, but having a good nutritional plan we know helps with our immune system, helps with our overall health, certainly going to be beneficial through the process.

There are vaccines available, that depends on your area and how big of an outbreak you're dealing with. One of the real challenges, and I'll go back to how we described the pathogenesis or the development of this disease, it's on the surface of the eye, the cornea of the eye. If I get a physical scratch or irritation and then I start to get that infection. It's very hard to build immunity at that level, so there are vaccines, but have a conversation with your veterinarian because there are instances where people have been very happy with those results. There are instances where we need to institute a multitude of control measures to really make a difference.

I think there's a little bit of value there for having that total approach rather than, I for sure would not think... And pinkeye is a great example of, I don't have one thing that's going to solve the problem. You come and you say, "Hey, how do I fix pinkeye in my herd?" It's not a one sentence solution. It's a, "Let's figure out how are we going to go through this process and manage it as best we can." We're not going to eliminate it from some of our herds.

Taylor Edwards:

Yeah, it seems like that balancing in being proactive, having that relationship with your vet and then hey, what do we do next, is the best course of action, but also not the best answer. I feel like that's where a lot of people could get frustrated and they just want that answer, but there's really truly not one.

Brad White:

No, there's not. And there are discussions relative to, and there are other potential causal factors. One thing that has come up before is genetics. I'm not a geneticist, so I'm not going to go into the genetic component per se, although we will see pink eye more in some of our white-faced cattle. And it may be that, yeah, truly that's a genetic component. But as we think about it, we said one of the factors that influences that UV light can be challenging for those eyes and on the cornea.

Well, why do we wear white shirts in the summer? Because it reflects, right? Because it reflects. And so when you see football, baseball players, you put eye black under your eyes because it absorbs and you're not getting that reflection. Well, on cattle with a white face, they're getting that reflection on their eyes. Now there's not a lot we can do about that, but I think it's something to be aware of that I'm going to keep a closer eye on some of those animals.

Taylor Edwards:

I guess making sure they do have adequate shade, but also then again, you said that shade component is something that those flies really like. Again, balancing the pros and cons [inaudible 00:17:03].

Brad White:

Shade is a great example of, is shade a good thing? Yes, but if I don't have enough shade, and I've seen this with several herds and struggle with this in one of our pastures, is there's one nice shade tree. So, what do all the cows do, is everybody gets under there. And for both heat mitigation and fly control, it becomes very challenging because yes, they're in the shade, but when you're standing right next to 10 of your closest buddies, as close as you can get under the shade, it's not actually all that cool. Having shade is a good thing. As you describe it, and I think you've said it very well, Taylor, having adequate shade is really important.

Taylor Edwards:

That may be kind of a long term thing to think about I guess, but trying to implement more than one shade tree in your pasture, giving them some options even though they're still going to want to be close together.

Brad White:

Yep, yep. Absolutely. They're still going to want to be close together. But I think having your shade managed, having a fly control strategy and then having the ability... And I think pinkeye is one of the things we see in the summer. We do see some other diseases in the summertime and often we think summertime, we're coasting, right? We're not coasting doing nothing because we're busy with hay and other... There's lots of things going on in the summertime, but with my cow calf pairs that are spring calvers, often as far as an animal health, animal management standpoint, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it.

One of the things that I would encourage is, we talked about the importance of finding pinkeyes early, is to be deliberate with some of our animal health observations in the summer. And there's a couple things I would look for, pinkeye being one of them, but often we're taking out mineral at different times. We may be delivering mineral or I may have every week I check in, every five days, three days, whatever it is for your herd. But when you do the check-in, a couple things I'd think about. I would try to do a walkthrough or drive through of the cattle so I can get a close look. Is anybody blinking? Can I find them early? Especially looking for pink eye.

The other thing I'm thinking about is, is everyone walking around okay? Foot rot's one of the other things that we will see in the summer. Is everyone walking around? Seems like they're doing good, maintaining body weight. The third thing I would pay special attention to the bull, right? Or bulls. So, this time of year we've had the bulls out in a spring calving herd. The bulls have been out for a while, they're hopefully still working depending on when your calving season is. Make sure that bull can get up, can walk around, looks like he's doing good, no abnormal swellings and certainly check his eyes because the visual senses are important for him as well.

So, those are some of the things I would think about. As I'm planning for pink eye, I don't know exactly when it's going to occur. Like you asked, does it occur earlier or late? I don't know exactly when that's going to be, but I would want to do that kind of summertime herd check plan. And it helps for me if I'm going to be intentional and I know what I'm looking for. The other thing that I would throw out there is many of us, you may have somebody else check your cattle in the summer. A kid, somebody that comes in, one of your children, and if so, do they know what they're looking for?

Because I have been guilty of sending one of my boys out to check things and not providing adequate instruction of, "Here's actually what I want you to look for." And it takes, it's a 30 second conversation, right? "Here's a little bit of things you might want to be looking for," because many of these is health issues, summertime health issues, including pinkeye. We catch them early, our treatments are going to be much more effective and hopefully we can stop it before it becomes a bigger herd problem.

Taylor Edwards:

Those quick conversations and preparing, in the long run's, going to save you time, money, and labor when you don't have time to be out there treating pinkeye when you could be bailing hay or doing something else.

Brad White:

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the other piece of planning that it is easy to put off or not think about is depending on where we move cattle for summertime grazing, and this ties directly into pinkeye, do I have a plan if I do need to get one up? Because often we'll turn into grazing pastures, they're in grazing pastures, and then they move from grazing pastures to fall pastures, which may be closer to our processing facilities.

So, we talked fly tags earlier. One of the reasons I may not want to put in fly tags in the summer is I don't have facilities out there for processing everybody. And I don't need facilities for processing everybody, but I do need a plan, whether it's a catch pen and a trailer to take them to a working facility or a head catch or some way, if I need to catch somebody in that pasture, how am I going to get that done?

Taylor Edwards:

Yeah, because you don't have time to think about that. You really need to get them up and get them treated as soon possible.

Brad White:

Absolutely. You're absolutely right, Taylor.

Taylor Edwards:

Yeah. I guess if you were going to give our listeners one big take home about pinkeye, what would you say?

Brad White:

I'd say it's frustrating. For everybody that has had to deal with pinkeye, it's super frustrating and I'd love it if there were a solution that we could implement, but there's not, which is okay. And which is why as we discussed through pinkeye, you'll notice I incorporated several other health things that we're thinking about through the summer because it's total herd health picture.

I'm going to have a good vitamin mineral supplementation program. I'm going to have a good grazing management program, which for the benefit of pinkeye and other reasons, I'm going to try to keep my grass from getting mature. I'm going to have a strategy for trying to control flies and external parasites. I'm going to have a plan for my overall vaccination schedule to make sure that I'm controlling the things I can control, and I'm going to have a deliberate observation plan. So, you asked me for one take home and I gave you five, which is kind of like dealing with pinkeye. It's frustratingly complex and hard to solve.

Taylor Edwards:

It's just part of it.

Brad White:

Yep. It's part of it as we go forward. Excellent. Thanks, Taylor.

Taylor Edwards:

Thanks for chatting with us today. And for our listeners, y'all be sure to check out the Help and Husbandry column in the upcoming Beef Bulletin to hear more from Dr. White.

Speaker 1:

Listeners, check out the links in the show notes to subscribe to the Angus Beef Bulletin to read Dr. White's column yourself, and also to get curated information every two weeks straight to your inbox, with the Angus Beef Bulletin extra. You can also catch Dr. White on BCI's Cattle Chat podcast and we'll put the link to that in the show notes as well. We want to thank today's sponsor, Lallemand Animal Nutrition, and most importantly, we want to thank you for listening. This has been Angus At Work.