Don't leave fluke to chance

Beat the parasite

01 September 2023 鈥� 2 min read

Even though housing is a few months away, it pays to consider the liver fluke challenge your cattle may have faced this grazing season and plan for any flukicide treatments you may need to administer before winter.

Cattle never develop immunity to liver fluke. Even low levels of this parasite can negatively impact feed conversion ratios, causing slower growth rates and reduce carcase quality at slaughter.

Treating fluke burdens at housing gives young cattle the best opportunity to utilise their feed and meet target finishing times.

Adult cattle will still be impacted by a fluke infection and, in replacement heifers and breeding cows, liver fluke infections can lead to hormonal and metabolic imbalances, affecting the reproductive rates.

Assessing whether your cattle need to be treated should involve a risk assessment which takes into account seasonal and regional risk, the type of land your cattle graze and the history of fluke infection on-farm.

Diagnostic testing can be used to provide a more accurate assessment of whether treatment is required. For example, the presence of liver fluke can be detected by faecal testing.

Discuss with your vet who can advise on the most appropriate method to assess whether you need to treat for fluke or not.

Where both liver fluke and worm treatments need to be given at housing, a combination anti-parasitic product can offer a practical treatment choice, saving time and reducing stress from handling animals multiple times.

Flukicide options for lactating dairy cattle are more limited and treatment protocols should be discussed with your vet.

IVOMEC® Super

IVOMEC® Super is a broad spectrum, dual-active parasite control for cattle which treats and provides protection against reinfection from the most pathogenic gutworm species, including Ostertagia ostertagi, Cooperia spp., the cattle lungworm, and adult liver fluke.