Send Lice Packing with ONE Application of Clean-Up II
As we head into winter when the days get shorter, cattle coats get longer. With those longer coats, lice transmission and survival is more likely. If you’re already dreading the ongoing, cyclical battle with lice and thinking ahead and for ways to stop those little suckers, we’ve got a major lice treatment product available for your peace of mind as the cold months set in. Meet Clean-Up II: the single-dose solution you’ve been looking for!The Impact of Lice on Cattle
According to Elanco, a single female louse (adult lice) on an animal in September can result in a million lice by January. In that time, you won’t just see the difference cosmetically – you’ll feel it financially, too. Lice populations grow on a single animal and lead them to slower weight gains and reduced milk production. Cattle show lower energy levels because of the constant itching too, which can also lead to damage to the hide. Some livestock develop skin infections from biting lice, or in some cases, anemia. When these animals interact with one another, the lice often move between the animals as hosts. Suddenly the “small” problem balloons into a much bigger one.Be mindful when shipping and feeding your livestock, as well as bringing new animals into the herd as replacements – especially if they haven’t been treated for lice. Common-fence contact with just the animals’ noses is enough to spread lice in the winter.
The Lice Life Cycle
Before you can control lice, you need to understand their life cycle. Lice progress through egg, nymph and adult developmental stages to mature in just 4 to 6 weeks. In cold weather, that timeline speeds up to just 3 weeks.Once mature, adult lice lay eggs in as little as 3 days. Though they only live for a few short weeks, they’ll reproduce an unsettling amount in that time. And chances are these small pests have expanded their not-so-little operation to several animals across the herd.
Clean-Up II Pour-On Insecticide with IGR
Now that you know what cattle stand to lose from lice and understand the lice life cycle, let’s talk about the solution. For a ready-to-use suspension product that’s safe for lactating and non-lactating dairy cattle, beef cattle, calves and horses, try Clean-Up II Pour-On Insecticide with IGR. This pour-on controls flies and lice and can even prevent horn fly larvae from emerging in the manure of treated cattle.
Dewormers often say they kill lice, but it’s a secondary benefit of those products (which can also bring resistance issues and ultimately not kill lice when you need them to). Opting for a product that’s indicated for lice control first makes much more sense.
One Application is All it Takes
Many products on the market say they control lice. Several do kill adult lice. However, only the product that contains an insect growth regulator (IGR) can also kill lice eggs simultaneously. Clean-Up II with IGR takes just one dose to kill lice at every stage of their life cycle. That means the product effectively controls adults, nymphs and eggs all at once. They like to call it the “one-dose difference!”Why Other Treatments Can Fail
Treating the lice eggs is key, but there are several other common reasons why treatments may fail. First, pour-on products that don’t kill lice eggs will never control a lice population. Beyond that foundational aspect, treated animals that interact with lice-infested animals can sometimes feed into the problem as well.Under-dosing or misapplying the product from poll to tail are also contributing factors to why treatments don’t always work. Timing also matters – treatment too early before lice become active in the fall and winter months isn’t often effective.
