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'Dutch' Green, 83, surveys cattle at the farm he and his son own in Culpeper. These have been separated from the others because of the pinkeye that's already blinded two calves and claimed one eye among others.
Pinkeye is taking a toll on this calf on the Green farm. The owners thought they were dodging the infection, but discovered its presence in the days after Hurricane Isabel. Rain makes conditions ripe, and this year is one of the worst. |
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."
By gently prodding the calf with a long stick, a herder turns the black heifer back into the line of slowly plodding cattle.
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.
By the end of the day, he has cut out 18 calves in need of treatment in the 60-cow herd. Fourteen have already lost one eye and one is completely blind. Three may have been caught at an early stage where antibiotics will control the disease.
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.
"This year, nothing seems to work," he says. "This summer I was absolutely going nuts. Now I've calmed down. I'll just have to give [the pinkeye] time."
The M-bovus bacteria is spread by face flies, but can also be present on blades of grass. Clipping pastures regularly is an essential part of pinkeye control because long blades irritate the eyes of grazing calves, leaving them raw and susceptible to the bacteria.
This year, because of the frequent rains (Culpeper County has received about 75 inches of precipitation in the past 12 months), keeping pastures clipped has been all but impossible.
"There are parts of fields where I can't even drive a tractor because the ground is so wet," Barron says.
Ralph Pullen, who also runs several hundred head of brood stock, says he has had only about a half-dozen calves with pinkeye this summer. He credits preventive measures for keeping the number low.
"I do everything I can to keep the cattle from getting it," he says.
Speedy Green thought he was doing everything possible, too--until last week, when he found the disease had suddenly struck both his herds. He says he missed closely checking his stock only two days during Hurricane Isabel and its aftermath. By the third day, pinkeye was rampant.
Now Green has two calves that are completely blind and a half dozen more that have lost one eye.
"I've had pinkeye before, but nothing like this," he says. "Usually pinkeye takes two weeks to get bad and when you spot it you can get the calves [which are more susceptible to the disease than grown stock] up, treat them and they'll get OK. This pinkeye is a whole lot faster."
Veterinarian Magura agrees.
"With this strain, an eye can be full-blown with the disease in two days," he says. "This is a more resistant form of bacteria that does not seem to respond well to treatment."
Magura also believes Isabel might be responsible for Green's problem.
"The high winds carried flies long distances and into other herds," he says.
The veteran vet says the pinkeye problem has also spread to dairy herds that do not graze in pastures, an unusual development.
"There are several strains of the disease and we just happen to have a real strong one," Magura says.
Frost and the onset of cold weather will help slow the spread of pinkeye. But as long as face flies are active and grass is tall, the problem is likely to persist to some degree.
And farmers who have lost thousands of dollars already because of this year's rains will see their profits fall even more.
"This is the most frustrating year I've ever experienced," Barron says. "It is much worse than the drought."
To reach DONNIE JOHNSTON: DJohn40330@aol.com
