Stock keepers urged to review dosing plans as hoose risk increases
If cattle are not responding to gutworm treatments, rumen fluke may be the cause. File photo
This year's increased hoose threat was highlighted by vet Dr Natascha Meunier from Animal Health Ireland in a recent Teagasc podcast entitled "Health at Housing".
"Hoose in particular, be careful this year, because there have been ideal conditions for these parasites over the last few weeks”, she said.
“When it comes to hoose, the lungworm parasites, if that’s what we’re trying to target, all of our broad-spectrum wormers, that’s yellow wormers, white wormers or good clear wormers, they all work against the lungworm. When it comes to timing, that can differ, depending on when they were last treated, when you’re planning to house them, or when they’ve been housed, what product you used last, and what the risk is from the pasture.
"For example, the clear drenches tend to have a little bit of persistence, so if you’ve treated them with something like that, it might tide you over to the housing period, if you’re planning to house them in the next few weeks. They might not need anything else at housing, per se.
“We usually want to be using a clear drench or a white drench for worms. The white drench can also be quite helpful for liver fluke. The reason we’re using either of these is because the Ostertagia gut worm can go into a dormant state at this time of year, and the yellow wormers don’t work well against that life stage”, Dr Meunier explained.
“Fluke tend to have this really long life-cycle, up to 12 weeks until they become adult parasites. Animals can get infected early in autumn, right up to housing. You can imagine that in any one animal, they might have a range of life stages of the liver fluke parasite.
"A lot of them only target, for example, the adult parasites, and if you give that at the start of housing, it’s obviously going to kill the adults, but you might have a few immatures, early or mid-stage fluke as well, so you think you’ve treated everything, but those immature stages aren’t affected.
She added that the immature flukes will keep growing and affect the animals’ performance, so more action may be needed.
“Depending on what you used, you might need to go in later using the same type of product, or you could use a product that targets the younger life stage of those parasites," she said. "Which one you choose really depends on how big a risk fluke is on your farm.
"If you’ve got sheep as well, which many farmers do, you might handle if differently, because liver fluke tend to be much more of a problem for sheep than they are for cattle.
“Rumen fluke is a completely different parasite to liver fluke, although they share the same name, and a fairly similar life-cycle”, Dr Meunier said. “Generally speaking, there’s a lot of rumen fluke in Ireland. Maybe half the farms in Ireland have it, but we only see problems on a small number of farms.
"If it is a problem on your farm, you might need to be treating for it. The issues that you see may be a few animals doing poorly, maybe a bit of scour. They’re losing weight, or they’re not putting on weight when you’re expecting them to,” she said.
If cattle are not responding to gutworm treatments, rumen fluke may be the cause.
“For any of your parasite treatments, when you’re planning or when you’ve got a specific problem, chat to your vet. They’ll give you very specific advice for your farm,” she suggested.
“Prevention is definitely better than cure, in relation to pneumonia, making sure that animals are fully vaccinated before they go into the shed. Your young animals are particularly prone to getting some type of a pneumonia.
"When they share that air space, perhaps with some older animals, the older animals might just be carrying the disease. They don’t look clinically ill, but they’ll pass on bacteria or viruses to younger animals,” Dr Meunier said.
“Many of the vaccines require two shots, usually a couple of weeks apart. Just make sure they get that booster shot before they go in, because they need that second booster for it to work effectively.
“Some vaccines only need one shot, but those tend to be shorter lived from a protective immunity point of view. Just be aware that if it’s been a couple of months, they might actually need a booster now. to make sure they’re fully protected for the housing season,” she explained.
Farmers purchasing in cattle face higher health risks. Ideally, the incoming cattle would be isolated away from the main group for an initial few days, to make sure that they’re not clinically sick.
Dr Meunier cautioned:
Ideally, they would be vaccinated before they move to the new farm.
“They also might need a fluke or a worm dose when they arrive,” she said.
If they’re healthy after the initial period, they can be integrated into the on-farm vaccination plan.
