My 6 year old Jersey cow has started to lose hair behind her head and along her neck. Can anyone tell me why? She was wormed and tested for TB 4 months ago and every thing turned out fine. She was AI'd 20 days ago. I feed her 8 lbs of 18% dairy ration a day as well as a quart of whole kernal corn. She has all the peanut hay she wants and gets coastal hay at milking time. She has given 7 quarts for the 4 months I have had her and I only milk her once a day. I also just got her over mastitis.(I milked her 6 times a day for a few days) Now we have a calf on her and he nurses all day after I do the morning milking. She has not had a calf in at least 1 year.(her history before me is vague) I have also noticed her butter fat is starting to drop,we are skimming a third to half as much cream. That is her history. The question was why is she losing hair behind her head and along her neck. Thank You Russ

-- Russ Cherry (whiteoakbaskets@aol.com), February 23, 2002

Answers

Well, we had the same thing happen to one of our calves. The vet said that it was due to a fever for prolonged periods of time. The calf came from a dairy and it had been sick before we got it. Either that or it might be lice? You could see the eggs on her.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 24, 2002.

She could be rubbing the hair off while scratching her ears for mites. The lice and idea is also a good idea to check for, or simply treat her anyway. Make sure anything you decide to use is cleared for dairy cattle, and watch the milk withdrawl. Did you take her somewhere to be AI'd, because she is right at hatch time for lice :) If you do see the creepy crawlers, they were brought on your place about that time. Repeat the treatment in 21 days, and don't forget the bedding. If you look close you can see if the hair is coming out by the root, this would be from a defficency of some kind, if the hair is broken off, than she is scratching or someone is chewing it off. The only thing I would add to your management now is a good loose mineral.

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.

Check for lice...

Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), February 24, 2002.

Russ, sounds like she is well cared for. Good job! May be lice or may be she is just starting to shed her winter coat. As for the drop in butter fat, this is due to the calf nursing.

-- Nathan Harris Sr. (barnyard_mini@yahoo.com), February 24, 2002.

Russ, sounds like lice. We always worm in the spring with something that's effective on internal and external parasites because every spring lice seem to pop up from nowhere. About the drop in butterfat, in our experience when a cow has a calf she is nursing she will usually try to hold back and not let you get all the milk cause she's worried the calf won't get enough, and the majority of the butterfat comes out right at the end of milking. The only way we've solved this problem is to milk while the calf nurses on the other side. While he's little you can try to give him only one teat. Gets to be a pain when the calf gets bigger with all the butting, but the longer she nurses him the more she will try to hold back.

-- Joe (botaur2@yahoo.com), February 24, 2002.

Ivomec works for lice as well as worms.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.

Is she in a stanchion? Rubbing in a stanchion can cause hair loss. Also this time of year a cow will start to shed their winter coat. Brush her well. And yes, could also be mites.

-- Kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), February 24, 2002.

Some cows go down in cream content when they have been lactating for a long time. Do the areas that are loosing hair look slightly raised and rough? If so she probably has a type of wart that is common(and communicable) to cattle. Don't worry about calling a vet if it is indeed this...she will get over it herself...kinda like chicken pox for cows. I suppose cows can get lice but I have never seen a case of it. My bet would be the warts or she is rubbing herself somewhere and making bare places. Can you give a discription of the places themselves and their exact location(ie under the throat, along the sides, etc.)?

-- Amanda (mrsgunsmyth@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.

Thank you everyone for your reply. MY 2 year old solved the mystery. He kept talking about his "fort" while I was milking and when I followed him he led me to a hole in the back side of a bale of peanut hay that was big enough for him to lay down in. My cow(Annabell) had eaten almost all the way across the bale and would stick her whole head and neck up in the bale while she was eating and this was rubbing the hair out, she is just shedding.We AI'd her again today and the vet said she was just shedding. This is our 2nd AI in 21 DAYS. does anyone know of a jersey bull in the south Alabama area. Thanks again.

-- Russ Cherry (whiteoakbaskets@aol.com), February 25, 2002.