Warts on Steer - URGENT

earlybird

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Help! I have a steer who has a severe case of warts. I waited for them to fall off like everyone said, but that didn't happen. They are on his neck and are very large and almost hanging and now he has some small ones around his eyes and nose. I've ordered the vaccination for warts, but it's been three weeks and I still haven't received it from the vet. I left another message yesterday. However, as I feared, now a new problem has presented itself. He must have tried to scratch them off and now there is some bleeding and a large open sore. I'm concerned about flies and maggots getting into the wound. Is there something I can spray, or sprinkle on the wound in the meantime to prevent this? I'm really worried about my steer. I don't want him to suffer.

- Newbie
 

glenolam

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You can try cleaning the wound off as best you can then spraying Blue Kote to disinfect the wound followed by SWAT or some fly repellant.

Have you tried calling another vet to get the vaccination? 3 weeks is a very long time to wait. Is it something you can order on-line at Jeffers Livestock or is it strickly Rx?
 

goodhors

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Will he be willing to stand while you treat him or be tied up? A paint or spray from the store could work fine, if you can get it on the holes.

My heifer had warts, and we mostly left them alone. The most common idea was to take them off with pliers. Some said feeding them back to her would induce immunity, but it GROSSED me out! Yuck!!!

Another idea was that if she got her minerals right, they just would fall off. I did feed her minerals in daily handful of grain, but didn't notice much difference before sending her off to a friend who said we could use his bull to breed her.

Well she was there about 60 days, and when we picked her up, warts were gone!! I was quite surprised, but she has about 99% of the warts gone, just a couple bumps left on one cheek, tiny. There were some LARGE lumps, on her side, one hoof, beside her eye. Very noticable, and I was afraid to medicate it for fear of hurting her eye. So I was just seeing how minerals worked out over time. I did buy some iodine to try after a recommend, since it would not rub around into her eye like other ointment things. I hadn't used it though and now have no need.

Warts might be an age thing, like with horses. Young horses can get warts, usually in ears, muzzle area. If you leave them alone, warts are usually gone by age 1 1/2 years but certainly by 3yrs. If you mess with the warts, horse usually ends up with 3 times as many, and they take longer to go away! Vet can burn them off, but that will cost you. Warts usually just rub off or disappear. You don't see older horses with warts, it is an age thing.

The other couple warts she rubbed off, I just put some powdered barn lime, also called Hydrated lime, on after wetting the wound spot on her skin. Water made the lime stick over the hole, created a crust so flies could not infect the hole. Those spots were on her sides, easy to reach and treat. Healed nicely.

Lime is NOT to be used for an deep holes, gaping wounds. Does make a good treatment for a scratch, again covers the hole like a scab, falls off when hole under has healed itself. I have had no infections using it, no scars. Lime treatment was recommended many years ago by the old "all-purpose" vet, before we had many meds to choose from.
 

aggieterpkatie

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Most people around here just pull them off with pliers. Usually they don't grow back.
 

earlybird

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Thank you so much for all of the suggestions. I did go to the farm store tonight and bought some antiseptic spray. Unfortunately I can't handle the steer, so I got as much on it as I could, then my husband followed him around the pasture and got a few more squirts on the wound. I also bought some red coat to try to get on the wound, but again, I can't handle him and the range on the spray can is terrible. I'm tempted to put iodine in a super soaker!

But I still need to get something to keep the flies out. I realized tonight (it looks so horrible) that he didn't scratch it on a tree, he's actually been scratching with his back hoof. Which drastically increases the chance of infection. I am going to make another URGENT call to the vet tomorrow. Forget the vaccination, I'm afraid he's going to die of infection! Seriously, the holes are now gaping. There is some skin hanging down too and while it's not bleeding, it is an open wet wound. All I could do is try to spray him with the antiseptic. I feel like such an idiot newby. I wish I would have tried the plier thing. Now it's too late. Last year I had a steer that got warts and they eventually just disappeared. No such luck this year.
 

glenolam

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You're not an idiot newbie!

Our hereford cows aren't "handable" either, and when we went through a rough birth with one of them we got an ear full from the vet saying what we should/shouldn't do - made us feel like crap.

But we have decided that we don't want to have "pets" we want beef cows - and to us that means as little handling as possible.

For example - we have one steer who was a bottle calf. He comes right up to you, is halter broke, you can almost do whatever you want to him....and now everyone is attached to him and can't fathom butchering him. We have two others who are skiddish, would rather stay with their moms and we can't wait until they're big enough to head down the road.

Try to corner him as best you can and give him grain to feed on....while he's distracted with the feed start spraying away. Just be careful you don't get it in his eyes or feed.

Most fly sprays are safe to use from a distance, just make sure it's a less windy day!
 

Bossroo

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With the progress of the open wounds on your steer and the huge expense $$$ of a Vet. ... if it was me, I would process that steer asap to keep the cost of my steak low.
 

earlybird

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Thank you everyone. Fortunately we had a good friend willing to lend us some fencing panels and we were able to put them right outside the gate and use the gate itself as a squeeze chute. The vet gave him the first dose of the vaccine and we'll have to repeat it in 3 to 5 weeks, I don't recall right now. I sprayed iodine all over the wound and sprayed red coat all over it too, to keep the flies off. It's just so disturbing seeing it make him itch. I feel better knowing we've done everything we can for him though. I just can't wait to see some improvement. In the meantime, we'll keep herding him into the chute to spray on the iodine and red coat.
The vet didn't even flinch; said he's seen plenty of cases this bad. I'm mortified. Now I noticed that our other steer has small ones on his nose. We'll be dealing with those right away of course.

Oh, the vet said there is a bad case of deer warts going around right now and the flies are responsible for passing along the virus. Frustrating. I'm going to have to be much more aggressive about fly treatment from now on too. This is making it harder and harder to be organic.

I did ask about having him processed right away, simply to keep him from suffering (this was before the vaccine was administered of course) but the butcher wasn't sure if he'd be willing to process him in that condition. He hadn't seen anything, just knew what I was telling him over the phone.

I'm just hoping for the best now.
 

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