Lungworm alert

bob charles

Have spent the last week trying to cover all cattle for lungworm, burden seems high again this year as young animals dosed 8 weeks ago are showing signs. Lost a couple of animals already to it which were treated a week ago. poor/hard weather certainly isnt helping. If you havnt them done, get um done

Dampintheattic

bob charles wrote: »

Have spent the last week trying to cover all cattle for lungworm, burden seems high again this year as young animals dosed 8 weeks ago are showing signs. Lost a couple of animals already to it which were treated a week ago. poor/hard weather certainly isnt helping. If you havnt them done, get um done

Jayzus, where are you getting this poor / hard weather from?
If the weather for the past couple of months, can be described as poor and hard, you must be in another country.
I know, we have had bad days, but we have also had a lot of good weather.
Some fellas on her looking for rain:rolleyes:

Would have thought lungworm conditions, would be more a combination, of rain and heat, and or low lying wet land. Not your kind of "arable" land surely?

bob charles

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Jayzus, where are you getting this poor / hard weather from?
If the weather for the past couple of months, can be described as poor and hard, you must be in another country.
I know, we have had bad days, but we have also had a lot of good weather.
Some fellas on her looking for rain:rolleyes:

Would have thought lungworm conditions, would be more a combination, of rain and heat, and or low lying wet land. Not your kind of "arable" land surely?

I consider it a very harsh year on cattle, fluctuation in temps, very wet (100mm) and windy 2 weeks previous, even last weekend here there was a hard wind blowing. realistically when had a very good week and 3 or 4 more days with it.

We always seem to suffer lungworms around here and for the last few year symptoms have being showing up earlier and I would consider our cattle very well dosed etc. Pneumonia is so easily picked up once lungworm is present. Two animals that died over the last couple of days were even out-wintered and in good condition. my own fault as just going to have to strictly implement a treatment the 1st of June from now on. also looking at going vaccination against pneumonia year round

blue5000

Bob have you had these cattle long? You might be doin things too well.

What I mean is calves that get ivermectin type dose routinely the first summer never develop a natural resistance to lungworm. Then in the second summer after all the routine dosing, the first bit of exposure to lungworms they drop with pneumonia.

Lastin

I would have thought 2nd year cattle would have a level of immunity to lungworm infection. Better to dose with a levamisole drench as the cattle can cough up the worms.

severeoversteer

same as myself dosed last week here, neighbour with land beside our house said why wud you be wastin the money dosing and his cattle chokin with hoose, burden is high in my area anyway, maybe not so much in the south east. doses are cheap;)

bob charles

blue5000 wrote: »

Bob have you had these cattle long? You might be doin things too well.

What I mean is calves that get ivermectin type dose routinely the first summer never develop a natural resistance to lungworm. Then in the second summer after all the routine dosing, the first bit of exposure to lungworms they drop with pneumonia.

they would have being bought anytime in the last 9 months or so. What you say may very well make sense and I hadn't taught of it. they got levamisole product 15 of april, and doing with ivermectin pour on at the moment as it a product I can get to them fast with on my own. anyone thats coughing is getting levamisole injection. young animals havnt a hope in hell fighting off the slighest touch of pneumonia with lungworm. is it worth going the full hog and spend circa €14 and vaccinate for all strains of pneumonia nowadays. I begining to think so. up to now I only vaccinate if going indoors

REBEL COUNTY1

Can wet weather bring on hoose?

Had five bullocks gone to grass for first time start June just bought, two weeks good weather and first day that was bad one was coughing and two others a small bit, no other symptoms only arching backs a bit and seemed off form, when weather dried up following day or that they were flying it again. Cough is back in the same one lad again now but im going dosing them all this week anyway.

Two weeks surely too short for worms to develop and mature, or could the change to wet weather bring on the symptoms of non mature worms or small dose of pneumonia maybe or what? Any thoughts or experience appreciated?

restive

I had one or two coughing at the start of the week. When i checked them this evening the were all coughing. I am just after injecting them with ivormectin.

Farmer Pudsey

I always use ivermectin injection for worms. It is the cheapest by far. With the exception if I buy in suckler weanlings the first dose I give them is levcide pour on. I see little sign of lungworm yet this year. cattle let out early march injected early May will do again at herd test end of July. I have a mixture of 2011 and 2012 cattle.

Are you using levamisole all the time Bob you may have build up resistance to it on farm. Also oral doses only kill about 95%-100% of worms and you need to overdose with it. I am bad to judge the weight of cattle I always think they are heavier than they are it helps at dosing.



I

micky mouse

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I always use ivermectin injection for worms. It is the cheapest by far. With the exception if I buy in suckler weanlings the first dose I give them is levcide pour on. I see little sign of lungworm yet this year. cattle let out early march injected early May will do again at herd test end of July. I have a mixture of 2011 and 2012 cattle.

Are you using levamisole all the time Bob you may have build up resistance to it on farm. Also oral doses only kill about 95%-100% of worms and you need to overdose with it. I am bad to judge the weight of cattle I always think they are heavier than they are it helps at dosing.



I

Do you use ivermectin right through the summer.Whats your theory on it been the cheapest as again the levamisole,is it that it gives you longer cover.Was it a vet that said about needed to overdose with oral dosing.Got a few of the weanlings dung sampled there last week at the herd test.Said they had no fluke and worms were ok too,keep doing what im doing.All mine have got is a levacide treatment.Ialways though that levacide was a cheap dose for the first one or two times,then later on the year you good go in with your whites or ivers .Would you need to be using ivers from the start,would they not be more effective later on in the season,when the flukes would need to be looked more at.

Farmer Pudsey

micky mouse wrote: »

Do you use ivermectin right through the summer.Whats your theory on it been the cheapest as again the levamisole,is it that it gives you longer cover.Was it a vet that said about needed to overdose with oral dosing.Got a few of the weanlings dung sampled there last week at the herd test.Said they had no fluke and worms were ok too,keep doing what im doing.All mine have got is a levacide treatment.Ialways though that levacide was a cheap dose for the first one or two times,then later on the year you good go in with your whites or ivers .Would you need to be using ivers from the start,would they not be more effective later on in the season,when the flukes would need to be looked more at.

Ivermectns are for worms not for fluke. Yes I use them right through the season usually use flukiver/trodax for fluke. My land would in general not be a fluke type land.

The reason you over dose with a levicide/levamisole or most oral drenches is to prevent build up of immunity to the products. Very few of us can gauge weight accurately so dosing at a slightly higher rate helps prevent this. Stomach Fluke treatments are an exception you need to gauge accuratly for these as they are sever on cattle.

I would have treated finishing cattle 6-8 weeks after letting off. Cattle being rehoused were treated at the same time they will be done again in mid August (10 weeks) . The reason I use Ivers are that they are cheap treatment for worms (50 cent for a 500 kg animal), they give a good worm kill, and are faster than oral dosing if worms alone are the issue. I use the injectible form.

bbam

advice from my Vet..

If a good deal of cattle in a group are coughing hard and the burden seems high then an oral drench is a safer bet than the ivomec type injections..


The injection is strong and the sudden kill of a heavy burden may be too much for the lungs and a bad pneumonia is a real risk..
The oral drenches will work slower and allow an animal deal with the clearing worm burden much better..

She also recommends for younger cattle not to over treat and allow them be exposed to bring on some level of immunity.. She said that for most herds to treat at first signs of coughing is sufficient.

KatyMac

Couple of mine started coughing so Ivermect(ed) them yesterday evening. Also, one has a touch of ringworm on his face - it's the first I've seen for years.

pakalasa

You'd often hear the phrase - "dose to reduce the worm burden". It's as if, it's a balance between the young animal having to develop it's own immunity and not becoming overburdened with the worms.
I saw a programme on one of the UK channels a while back and the vet on it even recommended delaying dosing replacement heifers a while so as to allow the immunity some chance to develop. This would benefit them later in life.
I always do mine with Noromectin pour-on. As I always have to do them in dry weather, it's less severe on them compared to injecting which can be done in bad weather. An added bonus.

Farmer Pudsey

I would agree about the oral dose for where a lot of coughing is present. and the vet is more than likly about dosing at first sign of coughing however as a lot of a farmers work part time myself included a routine program can be benificial. I find that dosing 6-8 weeks after cattle are left out is benificial also finishing cattle are caught by withdrawal dates so dosing mid april-1stmay means you can kill cattle 56 days layer with ivers.

Also 2nd treatment coinsides with herd test unlessI have a lungworm attack. It also cost money to test samples or call the vet. Vets differ and animals die.

When she talks about over treating is she talking about leaving long periods between dosing or is she reccomending to dose as near to the weight as possible. Any data i read about white oral dosing is to dose ( set you dosing gun) to heavist animal in the bunch. I inject calculate ever animals weight and if I judge them at the higher end of weight limit I will use the next level above. That is if I think an animal is 345 kgsI wll dose as if in the 350-400 bracket.

Dampintheattic

I'm an Ivermectin man. I follow the instructions to a tee. 3 / 8 / 13 weeks after turnout for first and second year animals. Also do first time calvers.
Has always worked very well for me.

This year, I gave them the shot 3 weeks after turnout, but I'm delaying the second shot.
I'm seeing absolutely zero evidence of coughing, and have never in my life seen calves thrive like this year. No creep feed either.
I will wait for the first cough, then inject the lot, with the second round.
Just want them to see some little exposure, so they can build some resistance.