Montana farmer-stockman., 1956-12-01
Veterinary
Cattle Lice Cost
Millions Yearly
By STUART YOUNG, D.V.M.

LA1A1 Val LIZ AOO0l1 10 q lllCUQlGSO
creature, and it's really no wonder.
Those whose job it is to figure such
things, claim that cattle lice cost the
livestock business in this country $40
million year in reduced production.
Lice are common insect parasites of
the skin of cattle, particularly in our
northern states where the cold winters
favor their existence. In summer time,
when sunshine heats up the backs of
cattle maybe as high as 125 deg. F., the
pesky little things get killed off. Only
those protected in the ears, crotch or
dewlapS survive.
When the temperature drops off in
the fall, these survivors can reproduce
and spread their relatives and off
spring all over the animals body. The
population tends to build up heavily
through the winter and heavy infesta-
tations can then produce ill-effects.
Happy Only ON Cattle
Lice get their living by biting and
sucking at the animals skin tissues.
They reproduce by laying eggs that
are glued to the hair until they hatch
in a couple of weeks. The little louise
that matches out is called a ''nymph'',
for some reason, though it certainly is
no fairy. 1t grows up to be regular
big louise in about three weeks and
starts to lay eggs itself. All of these
stages live on the cattle hide-they
can't survive more than a week off it.
The parasites are spread from cattle to
cattle by direct contact. And the cattle
louise is unhappy living on any other
animals hide, including man's-which
we'll all agree is just fine by us.
All this activity of biting, sucking
and scratching around on the animals
skin is very irritating and the resultant
rubbing by the beast is where the pro-
duction loss comes in. Large areas of
skin may be denuded of hair, bruised
and chafed by the irritation and rubbing
the animal suffers. Anemia and I'M
thriftiness result, calves and young
stock show poor weight gains, and old,
skinny cows may even die. Young
animals and poorly nourished stock al
ways suffer worst and the worst effects
usually coincide with a spell Of bad
weather
Controlled by Insecticides
This disease can be well controlled by
many insecticides. Lindane and DDI
are commonly employed DOT is better
not used in dairy stock. These prepare
tons are obtainable in various forms &C
cording to the method of treatment
There are dusts and powder, spray:
and dips, and oily concentrates for uSt
on self-treatment rubbing posts o.
sings. busting has the disadvantage o
poor coverage and penetration, unless i
is actually rubbed in, and is less eff
fective as control measure for rang
cattle than spraying.
Spraying with power or hand-puml
giving a pressure of about 200 pound
per square inch gives good penetration
in thick-haired range cattle. Lindan
at O.O5 per cent should be used an
about 2 gallons per animal will b
needed. See that the spray gets we
into the crotch, fore-legs, tail and dew
laps. One spraying in the late fall, b(
fore the weather gets really cold, Shout
take care of the problem for one winter
Self-treatment devices, dressed wit
per cent chlordane in oil, or othe
insecticides, can help control the lie
population provided they are set u
whore the cattle will get to them Ofte