Relation of Ration to Short-Nosed Cattle Louse Infestations1

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ninety short-yearling steers, weighing approximately 215 kg each, were randomly assigned to 9 experimental rations. Sixty days later animals were weighed and Haematopinus eurysternus (Nitzsch) were counted in a 25-cm2 area in each of 5 locations on the right side of each animal: above the eye, behind the ear, on the jaw, shoulder, and hip. Lice were most numerous and average daily gains smallest when animals were fed only sorghum silage. Steers fed silage plus urea gained less and had more lice than those fed silage plus cottonseed meal. Adding approximately 1.8 kg of rolled sorghum grain produced greater gains than no grain, regardless of the nitrogen source, but louse numbers did not differ significantly between grain and no-grain treatments. Correlations between average daily gains and lice counted were significantly negative. Type of ration appeared to influence degree of louse infestations.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: