Dehorned calf pestered by flies

patsy_mccabe

Calf here dehorned 3 days ago. Found her last night in bushes away from the rest of the herd. Hunted her out and back to the rest. It looked like the flies were at her head and she ran back into the bushes.
What is the best thing to put on her. She got aluminium spray at dehorning. Would Stockholm tar be best or would the spray do again?

hopeso

Stockholm tar is probably the best option. Maybe give it a shot of the aluminium spray first. The tar will probably need to be reapplied every couple of days for a while...

patsy_mccabe

Thanks. Never had the problem here before.

whelan2

Tar and spot on or similar

tanko

Does anyone use the fly tags, are they any good?

kollegeknight

I find the Stockholm tar great. We can get it in an aerosol or squirt spray and not as thick on the hair of calf.

satstheway

Neighbour lost a calf with maggots in area around horn. Vet said nothing could be done as they were too far in.

Bass Reeves

Years ago we had the same problem when a calf was dehorned too hard with caustic. Fly's got under the scab. Pulled it off and used a bit of diluted sheep dip.

Basically anything that keeps the fly's away will work just keep an eye on it

Gods Gift

Got the nephews spray gun and filled it with a strong concentration of sheep dip and sprayed it onto a lim calf here once. Could only get to within 10 feet of it in the field but it worked.

ABitofsense

I had the same problem during the hot weather with one calf. Tar actually made it worse as the wound couldn't heal under the tar. It kept the flies away tho! Ended up getting infected. Vet gave me some blue type spray which worked but had to be applied every 2 days

Bass Reeves

ABitofsense wrote: »

I had the same problem during the hot weather with one calf. Tar actually made it worse as the wound couldn't heal under the tar. It kept the flies away tho! Ended up getting infected. Vet gave me some blue type spray which worked but had to be applied every 2 days

Alymycin spray I say

amacca

+1 for Stockholm tar here ....heres how I do it if I'm concerned about flystrike and I don't want to be having to attend to them.....hasnt failed ever.

Remove the buds with a gas dehorner....put a bit of wound powder on after you stop any small amount bleeding/cauterize (That bit is important - it's decaying blood/ski that attracts them so leave as little to attract them as possible)....small spray of disinfectant (blue green etc) ..... aluminium spray .....and then a good daub of Stockholm tar around the horns etc.......might sound overkill but if it's warm weather etc you won't have to look at the calf again so worth it for no hassle ....flies won't bother calf at all if you do that......you can buy the Stockholm tar as a spray if you want (the tin of it is much better value imo) ....you can see the flies actively avoiding it.

The tar will look awful and persist for weeks bit you and the calf will have peace.

Water John

I'd suggest the herd should be done with spot on, not just the one calf.

arctictree

I even spray the stockholm tar on myself if the flies are annoying me! Great stuff.

Water John

Not just the flies will be keeping away from you, with that Eau De Cologne.

orm0nd

amacca wrote: »

+1 for Stockholm tar here ....heres how I do it if I'm concerned about flystrike and I don't want to be having to attend to them.....hasnt failed ever.

Remove the buds with a gas dehorner....put a bit of wound powder on after you stop any small amount bleeding/cauterize (That bit is important - it's decaying blood/ski that attracts them so leave as little to attract them as possible)....small spray of disinfectant (blue green etc) ..... aluminium spray .....and then a good daub of Stockholm tar around the horns etc.......might sound overkill but if it's warm weather etc you won't have to look at the calf again so worth it for no hassle ....flies won't bother calf at all if you do that......you can buy the Stockholm tar as a spray if you want (the tin of it is much better value imo) ....you can see the flies actively avoiding it.

The tar will look awful and persist for weeks bit you and the calf will have peace.

Why remove the buds? It's unnecessary and opening up the wound especially at this time of year.

We haven't removed buds in years and I guarantee you our cattle are as clean and bud free as anyone's.

Also putting alu spray on an old wound isn't advisable.

Gods Gift

orm0nd wrote: »

Why remove the buds? It's unnecessary and opening up the wound especially at this time of year.

We haven't removed buds in years and I guarantee you our cattle are as clean and bud free as anyone's.

Also putting alu spray on an old wound isn't advisable.

Yeah. Burn around them and leave them there. Lots of people have to burn down an inch into the head then twist out the bud and leave a big hole which is unnecessary.

Westernrock

orm0nd wrote: »

Why remove the buds? It's unnecessary and opening up the wound especially at this time of year.

We haven't removed buds in years and I guarantee you our cattle are as clean and bud free as anyone's.

Also putting alu spray on an old wound isn't advisable.

If you leave the bud in would it not have to die back anyway so if you take it out there will be less decaying material? I suppose the big thing is to do them as young as possible and everything will be smaller and tidier.

patsy_mccabe

Well this heifer calf was done at 4 weeks old and I could just locate where the horns buds were starting. Lims are fierce slow to get going.

amacca

orm0nd wrote: »

Why remove the buds? It's unnecessary and opening up the wound especially at this time of year.

We haven't removed buds in years and I guarantee you our cattle are as clean and bud free as anyone's.

Also putting alu spray on an old wound isn't advisable.

I was talking first time out.....on a green field site I suppose:D

Agree I wouldnt be going in after something already done......thats how to get it right first time and never have any issues going forward in my experience.

I use a light covering of aluspray after the wound powder to mask any smells that attract flies and give me another couple of days for the area to heal in peace

wrangler

satstheway wrote: »

Neighbour lost a calf with maggots in area around horn. Vet said nothing could be done as they were too far in.

I had a calf that way years ago too, maggots hatched under the scar, vet said they were too far in too but to pour hydrogen peroxide into the wound anyway,
He recovered no problem

_Brian

The tar is a good job but I found they lick it off each other so it needs to be reapplied daily

Donegalforever

I had the same problem a few years ago. I also dehorned in July. The first time I notice anything was wrong was the calf was away on its own.
After putting the calf in the crush, I found the "burned horns" full of maggots. I had to remove the maggots one by one with tweezers.
When I had all the maggots removed I put salt with a little water in the wounds and then put animal ointment on the wounds. (At present I cannot remember the name of the ointment but it is a type that has been round for years).

I had no more trouble with the wounds.

I have never dehorned a calf in July since then.

patsy_mccabe

Update - got the calf in last night and more aluminium spray with stockholm tar on top. No sign of maggots, as far as I could see.