Forget location, location, location - fluke's not fussy
An upsurge of fluke infections on farms across the UK has prompted calls for cattle producers to be alert and take action if their herd is at risk.
Traditionally associated with the wetter western counties, there are increasing reports of fluke disease from drier south and eastern areas. Now Merial Animal Health has warned producers that, without action, reduced growth-rates, metabolic disease, infertility and lower milk yields will hit profits hard.
"Whilst acute disease in sheep is widely accepted as potentially fatal, more often than not the long-term chronic infections in cattle go unnoticed," notes Brian Hosie, Veterinary Manager for the Scottish Agricultural College. "Liver fluke disease in cattle is simply less often acknowledged.
"But in recent years the number of liver fluke infections diagnosed by the SAC Veterinary Services, in samples submitted from cattle, has increased dramatically.
"The emerging trend of wetter, milder winters is likely to be a factor in the increase," he says, "by creating optimum conditions for survival of the mud-snail, the intermediary host for the fluke parasite." "Other important contributory factors include the movement of fluke-infected stock between farms, poor drainage on many farms and the growing problem of flukicide resistance.
"Don't take the 'it won't happen to me' attitude to increasing fluke prevalence," advises Mr Hosie. "Seek advice from your vet about how to assess your herd situation and enact a control strategy. Many vets offer faecal sampling services to detect fluke eggs in youngstock; April and May, when the adult fluke are laying their eggs, is an effective time for submission of samples."
Helen White, Technical Services Manager for Merial, reminds producers that simple management changes will also ease the fluke risk. "Treat all bought-in stock with a quarantine flukicide dose to prevent further spread of the disease and contamination of clean pastures.
"And don't forget there's a great and easy tool available to every producer: abattoir data on condemned livers. It could indicate a problem in the rest of the herd - perhaps sub-clinical - that you might not otherwise have discovered."
