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Plagued by pinkeye Summer of rain leaves beef cattlemen dealing with costly pinkeye epidemic. Date published: 9/30/2003
Potent strain adds to local cattle farmers' woes As neighbors help push his herd of Angus-cross brood cows slowly toward the barn lot, a look of worry and frustration begins to intensify on Culpeper County farmer Jimmy Eggborn's face. A nice 500-pound calf begins to wander away from the group and seems unsure of where she is going. "Keep her close to the others," Eggborn yells to one of the cowpunchers. "She's completely blind." As he does, however, the animal's problem becomes evident. A white ulcerlike bulge rises from each eye. Pinkeye. In a year that has stretched area farmers' patience and pocketbooks almost to the limit, it is yet another setback in sea of problems brought on, ironically, by the one thing that those who tend the land cannot do without--rain. Pinkeye, or the M-bovus bacteria, is a potentially blinding infection that has always been troublesome to beef cattle. But a potent new strain has emerged this summer--a season that was probably more conducive to the spread of the disease than any other during the past century. The result is an epidemic that is devastating many Culpeper County beef herds and costing farmers thousands of dollars. "About everybody I know has had a problem with it this year," says Culpeper veterinarian Karl Magura. "And this strain is really fact-acting." Eggborn is quickly finding this out. Four days ago, there was no sign of pinkeye in the herd he is bringing to the barn. But this afternoon, the fifth-generation Culpeper farmer watches one white-eyed calf after another walk through the gate. Most are calves a month away from the sale ring. Those top-quality steers and heifers now must be weaned and kept apart from the herd. They no longer will be eligible for graded feeder-calf sales. They are money lost. Eggborn has it tough, but Billy Barron of Auburn Farm at Brandy Station is having it tougher. "I've had it practically all summer," he laments. "About 75 percent of my calves have pinkeye. I couldn't stop it." Like Eggborn and most other farmers, Barron takes preventive measures each year against the disease. He feeds his two herds (totaling about 225 brood cows) expensive medicated minerals and uses time-tested fly-control measures.
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