News

Cattle worming experts are urging farmers to test animals before giving anthelmintics at or around housing this year, to check if they are really needed. Unnecessary blanket treatments are a waste of farmers’ time, effort and money and can encourage anthelmintic resistance, meaning products may not work in future. Traditionally first season grazing dairy calves … Continued

Recent discussions with experts at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), have raised concerns around potential issues of grazing cattle in late summer and autumn 2022. Farmers are warned to remain vigilant for signs of lungworm following reports of coughing in grazing cattle, consistent with lungworm infection. Outbreaks can … Continued

Tick (Ixodes ricinus) activity is expected to peak in some areas of Great Britain in the next few weeks. Ticks can transmit several infections such as bovine babesiosis (redwater), which can lead to severe, sometime fatal disease. Farmers in areas with a history of redwater may wish to take extra precautions to protect susceptible stock … Continued

Giving first season grazing calves a lungworm vaccine before turnout will protect them against potentially lethal disease and reduce any economic losses due to ill-health, according to the Control of Worms Sustainably (COWS) group. “There is no way to predict easily when lungworm will hit and waiting until coughing starts later in the season is … Continued

Most current control strategies against gut worms, lung worm and liver fluke rely on the use of wormers applied to entire groups of animals at pre-determined times of the year. On many farms the same products have been used at the same time every year, for more than a decade. But cattle vet Rob Howe, … Continued

Parasite control in food producing animals is fraught with challenges and endoparasiticide resistance is a serious threat that left unchecked could cause irrevocable damage to the future health and profitability of the sector. To help meet these challenges the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) has developed a policy as a basis on which farm vets … Continued