Treating fluke at housing pays dividends
Treating your cattle for liver fluke at housing can pay real dividends according to Merial Animal Health. Veterinary Advisor Fiona MacGillivray points out that the cost of feeding cattle in the housing period is high, so treating to remove economically damaging parasites makes good sense in ensuring the maximum return on this investment.
Fiona says: "Many beef farmers may not realise that liver fluke are affecting their cattle, unless they receive feedback from the abattoir at slaughter. Fluke is often a sub-clinical disease in cattle, yet the parasite depresses appetite, and can also impair the body’s ability to convert feed to body mass. Indeed, liver fluke infestation in growing cattle has been shown to depress liveweight gain by up to 1.2kg/week. The consequence of this is obviously an increased feed requirement and a longer time to finish animals."
Recent research across the UK and Ireland has shown that, as a result of warmer and wetter weather in recent years, cases of liver fluke in cattle have increased significantly. However, once cattle are housed they are no longer exposed to new infection from liver fluke so a treatment at this time is ideal.
Research has also shown that, while treating against worms at housing will increase weight gain, treating against both worms and fluke can help to increase weight gain by around a further 400g per day.
In terms of the timing of a housing dose, Fiona advises to treat at housing rather than waiting. She says: "Some advice centres around treating several weeks after cattle have been housed. However, during this time cattle growth rates are potentially being hampered."
Research has shown that it is the adult stage of liver fluke which has the greatest impact on cattle productivity, reducing weight gain by 13 – 15%, compared to only 5% for the early immature stages3. Therefore, it makes sense to treat at housing and deal immediately with fluke acquired during the grazing season.
In terms of treatment, farmers have the option to choose a straight fluke product such as Trodax® which can be used alone or alongside a wormer treatment. Alternatively, a combination endectocide such as Ivomec® Super can be used which as well as killing fluke also has the advantage of killing gastro-intestinal worms and controlling external parasites such as lice and mange. Both Trodax and Ivomec Super have been successfully used on farm for more than 20 years.
Furthermore, neither clorsulon in Ivomec Super nor nitroxynil in Trodax has any reported fluke resistance and both have been shown to be effective against triclabendazole resistant fluke.
