Angus/Jersey Steer with wrinkles under eyes?

BYHforlife

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This is our 9 month old calf that is an Angus bull crossed with our Jersey milk cow. He stays very far away from us normally so I didn't notice this sooner. Today I randomly decided to lure him over with some grass. Is this puffy eyes from so many bugs around his eyes or a bigger problem?
20190815_150523.jpg
 

farmerjan

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The eyes aren't runny, there is no white spot on the eyeball, so it isn't any type of pinkeye. I don't think it looks exceptionally puffy either. It could just be irritation from flies. I can't say that I have ever seen that kind of puffiness/swelling around the eyes. Is it the same on both sides? May just be a genetic thing. I haven't noticed anything like that on the jersey/angus cross heifers and cows I have.
 

farmerjan

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Was it "scaly" looking at any time? It could have been some ringworm that they itched and it caused a little swelling. The skin around the eye seems to not have a lot of hair, more just their skin. But I don't see any "problem" to be overly concerned about. Ringworm is common in the winter/early spring, has patches of whitish flaky skin and they itch it off. It is somewhat contagious, but it usually will clear it's self up as soon as the sun gets brighter. We see it more often if cattle seem to be short on natural sunlight/vit A & D. We have scraped it off the calves, and "smothered" the area with something like vaseline.... it is an actual fungus.
 

Sheepshape

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As farmerjan says, there does seem to be hair loss around the eye, so I'd be thinking ringworm. Smothering with petroleum jelly will not do any harm and may also put those flies off.
 

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