Cattle lice

Summary

Lice irritate cattle, causing the cattle to bite, scratch and rub. This constant irritation can become a welfare issue. Lousy cattle may cause damage to fences, yards or trees which the cattle use as rubbing posts.

The coats of lousy cattle take on a rough scruffy appearance, and, at times, areas of skin are rubbed raw. This will reduce hide value at slaughter and be inconsistent with on-farm quality assurance programs.

Topics include:

• characteristics
• biting lice
• sucking lice
• the life cycle
• spread
• populations
• control
• treatment methods
• is lice treatment necessary?
• resistance
• eradication