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O/t maggots after dehorning cattle

J

johndeereman

Well-known Member
We bought a couple dexter cattle about two months ago of course they had horns we had the vet come while it was still cold (northeastern pa) he done a great job it"s been about six weeks and the last couple days have been warm so the bull has gotten maggots in his holes anyone have any solution to this problem? I just spent the last three hours picking them out with tweezers nasty job I got most of them but there"s still a few in there. The weather is forcasted to rain/snow cool right back off for the next couple days so maybe that"ll help. I"m sure some of you older farmers have dealt with this so I"m looking for your advise. By the way these are full grown animals.
 
I was told about the peroxide the vet said to put peroxide on a rag and wipe the maggots out yeah that don't work how do you wipe out a quarter size hole?
 
I don't think this vet is like that he's been really great giving us free advise on the dogs and such. I'm thinking he's a little on the young side and hasn't dealt with these issues much since most all farmers dehorn at a young age. I worked at various neighboring farms as a teenager and they all dehorned as calves except the one beef farm. I helped them dehorn with the old geatin (spelling) we done about 15 head but did them around Christmas time so they was all healed by fly season
 
Use peroxide to kill maggots and then cover wound with pine tar it will stop maggots from hatching because they don"t get any oxygen
 
Pour iodine in the hole repeat in a day to 3 days and you will probably not see them again. I had a sheep with maggots in different places and it works every time. Had one that had some type of infection on the rump, saw a few maggots and when I started pouring the iodine on there must of been almost 100 just jumping out where all I could see was a little red skin. Didn't even see holes in the skin till they started squirming out.
 
They are gruesome things to look at and just don't meet with modern sensibilities but they only eat dead tissue. As the wound heals they back out. They concentrate sulfur in their excrement and it acts as an antibacterial similar to sulfa. In WWII, my uncle had a near fatal leg wound treated in hospital with maggots.
 
I really do not like using pine tar but know many that swear by it.

I would wash the area with peroxide then coat the entire area with a ointment called SWAT. It is made for horses but works just as well on cattle.

TSLT100508
 
Mix Lysol and warm water pour over horn. Wait a few minutes do again until maggots stop comming out. Coat the top with pine tar that keeps the flies away.
 
When I graduated from vet school 33 years ago the treatments that have been described were all we had available. They did work, but took a lot of time and multiple treatments. You have to remember the "hole" you see is opening directly into the frontal sinus. That hole has to granulate closed from the inside of the sinus. In the meantime, the longer the maggots irritate the sinus, the longer the infection goes on. Ivomec has made maggot problems a non-issue. The old insecticides do not work very well on larva (maggots). By treating the animal with a normal dose of Ivomec every 2 weeks and giving sporadic treatments of an antibiotic like penicillin, the healing process will accelerate.
 
IF I have to dehorn larger cattle I always have packed the hole with cotton soaked with iodine. That seems to keep the maggots out.
 
Screw worm spray the area and holes until all the visible maggots stop squirming and then cover surrounding tissue/hair with pine tar.

Those maggots aren't just eating dead tissue, they'll eat everything in their path.

Nate
 
Are screw worms still around? I remember what a scourge they were back in the 50s, but I thought that over time they had been eradicated in the U.S.
 
Been there, done that. Pick out what you can manually and then pack the hole with SWAT. It is a wound dressing and insecticide. Tried other options, this is the best. Only thing to be aware of is the original recipe Swat, the pink stuff, makes any hair it touches fall out. Works great but makes a bald spot for awhile.
 
I agree with turpentine. Effectively kills the maggots, not bad for the animal.

I've used a spray bottle, just wet the area, don't pump the poor cow full of it - you'll see them all squirming out, jumping ship, falling off.

You'll probably have to re-apply a couple times and over a few days.

Flush it out with hydrogen peroxide in another spray bottle.

I'd use a bacetracin type ointment - but might be best to ask a vet on that. There's obviously exposed flesh there - sometimes dry, open air is the best for that - but obviously you don't want more flies laying eggs there.

Definitely watch closely for infection - that nasty smelling yellowish gangreen liquid, swelling, black dead skin, etc.
 
True to a point.

IF they're the right kind of maggots.

Unless you're an entomologist, don't just assume you've got the good kind, there's a good chance you don't.
 
Yes. With livestock, the idea is to keep flies away from the wound in the first place. Oil of tar, distilled/concentrated sap from yellow birch, is effective as a repellent and antibiotic. It was comon in Minnesota when I was a kid. Several drops on a cloth around my neck kept the deer-flies out of my hair - when I had hair. I don't know if oil of tar is availabe anymore.
 
The maggots won't hurt them a bit, but if you want to keep them out pack the holes with grease or tree tar after you clean them out.
 
Went to the vets today and got a can of carton 5 it"s for screw worms and a whole list of things sprayed it in the whole and the maggots crawled right out works much easier than tweezers thanks for all your help hope it keeps working
 
(quoted from post at 18:35:25 04/14/14) They are gruesome things to look at and just don't meet with modern sensibilities but they only eat dead tissue. As the wound heals they back out. They concentrate sulfur in their excrement and it acts as an antibacterial similar to sulfa. In WWII, my uncle had a near fatal leg wound treated in hospital with maggots.
Click to expand...

Had a dog that got a slash type of wound on it's back.The dog couldn't get to it lick it clean.After 2 or 3 days i saw a few maggots on it.Poured about 2 TBS.of peroxide on it.No exaggeration,at least 30 maggots bailed out of there.True, they only go after dead flesh and years ago some doctors kept a"crop" of them in their office to be used in treatment.
Francis Gary Powers said that while he was a prisoner in the Soviet Union and went into a doctors office for any kind of treatment he saw a jar of leeches in every office including a dentists office.
 
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