Our Current Affliction of the Year - Warts on a Group of Heifers

[chambero]

It seems like every year we have some kind of unique problem come up we haven't dealt with before.  This year, we have managed to get lots of warts on the heads of probably half of a group of 50 heifers we raised (they are now about 18 months old).  I know how to deal with warts on a show calf (cutting them off, feeding them to them, and constant daily application of some remedy to eventually get them off).  I don't have nearly enough time to do that on this many.

What would be the best approach to this little issue?  We are going to be palpating them in a month or so and I can cut them off then but that would turn into a bloody, grizzly mess.  Do I just use the vaccines you can get from vets and hope they work or is there something else that should be tried?  My priority would be to minimize the amount of handling necessary.  Do I remember correctly that you can get a custom vaccine made?

I have no idea where they came from.  But they are fairly unsightly and not conducive to sale of said animals next winter after calving.  Any help from someone who has dealt with large scale treatment of warts would be appreciated.

 

[sjcattleco]

Had the same problem on younger heifers.. Did nothing and they are going away on their own... 

 

[genes]

Pray for sun.  I think that usually gets the best of them eventually.  If you have really monsterous ones you could try putting a castrator band around them when you run them through.

 

[red]

We used a vaccine one time on a heifer. She ended up w/ the worst out break after that I've ever seen.
I've tried pulling them off but like you said these aren't show heifers. i had one this year that i just left alone. like Scott said they went away. Sometimes minerals & vitamins are also lacking a little, i know that can be a factor in dairy cattle for ringworm. You might look at that program.
Good luck but sunshine is a good tool too!

Red

 

[DL]

I have always found that if you cut off the wart, grind it up, and make the farmer eat it the warts magically go away!

If these are not show heifers the most rational approach might be to ignore it - if you are intending to sell them then you might not have that choice. There are billions (ok maybe millions) of viruses that cause warts - the wart vaccine contains only a small fraction of those and it is not cheap and it does require a booster.

I agree with red re minerals and vitamins, sum wont hurt either - is there a place where they rub their heads or faces?  The virus can remain on fomites so you could look to see if that is an issue. If you are running them thru the chute you could have one guy (usually the guy that is slowest AI is best with the pliers  ;D) who is in charge of taking wither a hemostat or a pliers and squishing the wart as it is pulled off - sort of like a personal wart vaccine - find the biggest and juiciest wart (stay away from the eyes) but they have never been able to prove that this works to decrease the duration of the warts. The wart vaccines will help prevent some types of warts but do nothing for those already there. There needs to be some sort of lesion (cut, abrasion, etc for them to appear - you  might best spend your time looking at where the heifers hang out and what they do with their heads - then if you find an area (fence post etc) of big head rubbing disinfect it now and then again before the next group comes into that area

nature will eventually make them go away - depends on your market, time, effort etc - I would probably close my eyes and imagine they were wartless! dl (cow)

 

[red]

DL, I was thinking about the wart vaccines. If I remember correctly our vet said there was a chance that it could cause the anaphylactic shock reaction. That is one of the main reasons we stocked the epinephrine.

Red