Monday, May 24, 2010

Solution for ringworm

Hello,
I just thought I'd write a quick post about the skin fungus "ringworm" that we had in the beef cow.
It showed up in circular red scabs on his neck and head just about a week ago but it has now cleared up and is healing fast. A book I would recommend for a lot of information on minerals is "Natual Cattle Care" by Pat Colby. Anyway here's the recipe we used on ringworm from that book:

1 pint apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons copper sulfate


I jut rubbed it onto the scabs with a paper towel in the morning before they went out to graze. It looked a lot better that same day but I applied it again the next morning anyway.
Ringworm will only be a problem in cows that are low in copper so we try to make sure that the free-choice mineral feeder is always available for the animals. We get copper sulfate locally in the form of root killer for septic systems at the local farm store. It is a blue crystal and can be poisinous if they eat too much of it.

Correct levels of copper, as well as other minerals, will also prevent Johne's disease and Brucellosis. Also, worms can't live in an animal that has the right amount of copper. A few years ago we had some pretty shaggy looking goats (reddish brown curled hair instead of glossy black on their sides) and offered them a nibble of copper sulfate for the first time. In two weeks their coats were all shiny and they have stayed that way most of the time since. Copper is a must!

Peter

2 comments:

David said...

Glad you were able to get rid of the ringworm. I never knew that it was a lack of copper in the cattle that causes ringworm though since our animals have never had it I have never read up much on the disease. We have had the same problem with our goats hair too. It is hard for us to give the goats a mineral block with copper since sheep can not have much copper and we graze them with the goat.
Thanks for the info
~David

Anonymous said...

Very interesting Peter. Glad it cleared up.

Gp B