Lice can suck the
profits out of your beef and dairy cattle herds during the winter. These
cold-loving pests spread when animals bunch together in response to frigid
temperatures, and we’ve already had plenty of those.
You can reduce
potential lice problems on cattle by keeping new animals separate from your
herd until you’ve given them a thorough louse treatment, generally two
applications of a contact insecticide.
According to Lee
Townsend, UK Extension Entomologist, the first application kills active adults
and immature lice, but it won’t destroy nits on the hide. A second application
targets new hatchlings from the nits and any other lice still around. Be sure
to follow the label instructions on treatment intervals. After these two
treatments, you can add new animals to the herd with minimal chance of lice
problems during the winter.
Don’t use systemic
insecticides during the winter unless you know the treatment history of newly
bought cattle. This is because migrating grubs might be in sensitive locations
and cause an adverse reaction this time of year.
Winter also is a good
time to reduce future weevil problems in alfalfa by letting beef or dairy
cattle graze dormant fields. Alfalfa weevils lay a significant number of their
eggs in living and dead stems.
Winter grazing helps
manage alfalfa weevils in two ways. Grazing removes stems holding deposits of
weevil eggs, and it removes stems that can serve as sites for females to lay
the remaining eggs in the spring. Letting your cattle graze alfalfa fields in
the winter can reduce weevil populations substantially, possibly to the level
that you won’t need a spring insecticide application.
For more information
on controlling lice and other livestock insect pests, contact the McLean County
Cooperative Extension Service.
Educational programs
of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people
regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.
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