Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

Posted: **Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:46 pm**

I know this subject was covered not too long ago, but I am in need of help!

I have a cow who had a few warts on her nose as a calf and they disappeared around 8 months of age.
She had a calf 2 years ago that was clear of warts. Last years calf has a lot of big warts all over her body. We have one more heifer that runs with her that has warts, but only 2 of them and they are different as they are like big rosettes. All the rest of the herd are clear.

My vet is unconcerned about the warts and just says they will drop off in time. Both heifers with the warts are nearly a year old now.

Is there anything I can treat the warts with to get rid of them?

Also, is it possible that the cow could be carrying the virus and passing it on to some of her calves?

I would appreciate any help and advice on the subject.

From Chris

Posted: **Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:35 pm**

Chris,
there are quite a number of different viruses which cause warts, and quite anumber of different descriptions of warts. The warts your cow had as a calf may not be the same type as your young stock have now. Multiple warts on the head and neck are often called angleberries and there can be a huge number of them. It can be difficult to tell if they are the same as cases with only one or two, so even your two young beasts may have different types. To a certain extent your vet is right, they almost always clear away in time with no permantent effect. However they can be a nuisance and occasionally serious if they get on genitals and can affect a bull's ability to serve but this is rare. Warts on teats can also cause considerable trouble. There are also relationships between warts in cattle caused by papilloma virus and sarcoids which are an infectious skin tumour of horses, but it does not follow that warts will spread from cattle to horses or vice versa. But as you can see spreading warts to a wart free herd is never a popular thing hence the feeling that it is unacceptable to take cattle with warts to shows and sales. Which gets me round to saying that if you plan to show or sell soon you may well want the warts away sooner than nature will take care of them. Pieces of warts can be taken by your vet and sent to a laboratory to make an "autogenous vaccine" which is given as a series of injections to the individual from which they were taken. It is a fairly expensive job as it has to be on an individual basis and the vaccine made from one animal cannot be used on any others. I sometimes get it done for bulls going to sales, but you may not have any need of it. If you do need it and your vet does not have a laboratory contact where vaccine can be made ask him to give me a phone or email me.

Duncan

Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

Warts Again!!