Coughing Calves

mickey1985

I noticed a bunch of my older calves with a bad cough at the outfarm. I presume its some sort of virus as they have been dossed regularly. When the run to meet me they are all out of breath by the time they join me. What would you dose them with in this instance?

Base price

What have you used to dose them previously and when were they dosed last.
If they were mine I would use Levacide injection. We find it effective as it kills the lungworms slowly and there is less a chance to trigger pneumonia. The only downside is that it is a high volume injection 1ml to 10kgs bodyweight.

mickey1985

Base price wrote: »

What have you used to dose them previously and when were they dosed last.
If they were mine I would use Levacide injection. We find it effective as it kills the lungworms slowly and there is less a chance to trigger pneumonia. The only downside is that it is a high volume injection 1ml to 10kgs bodyweight.

I was giving them Masternectin pour on in regular doses but I might try the injection you recommend instead thanks

The Rabbi

mickey1985 wrote: »

I was giving them Masternectin pour on in regular doses but I might try the injection you recommend instead thanks

Most vets recommend changing the active ingredient throughout the year.
Levamisole is good for a change as it's not a common ingredient in doses now,most are albendazole or ivermectin based.

_Brian

Wenever use the same product twice in a row, and I’d have no faith in pourons any more.

Who2

I'd be inclined to throw a bit of ctc powder in their meal for a while at this stage.

greysides

mickey1985 wrote: »

I noticed a bunch of my older calves with a bad cough at the outfarm. I presume its some sort of virus as they have been dossed regularly. When the run to meet me they are all out of breath by the time they join me. What would you dose them with in this instance?

Why would you dose for an infection you think is viral?

If you need to dose for worms but are worried because of a virus being present then avoid levamisole. It kills very quickly. Ivermectin and white doses work more slowly.

Also, levamisole won't cover inhibited Ostertagia either.

grassroot1

It is quite amazing that so many farmers use doses and dont know the active ingredient or what the dose controls.

greysides

grassroot1 wrote: »

It is quite amazing that so many farmers use doses and dont know the active ingredient or what the dose controls.

It surprises me a bit too but then there's a lot farmers have to take in from many sources and the details of dosing can be a bit too much. It's a lot easier if you have the thing explained to you from the start/basics than having to understand it from jumping in halfway along.

In short, read the instructions very carefully (often, it's what is not said rather than what is said you need to note) and be aware of what you need to cover at different times of year.

grassroot1

greysides wrote: »

It surprises me a bit too but then there's a lot farmers have to take in from many sources and the details of dosing can be a bit too much. It's a lot easier if you have the thing explained to you from the start/basics than having to understand it from jumping in halfway along.

In short, read the instructions very carefully (often, it's what is not said rather than what is said you need to note) and be aware of what you need to cover at different times of year.

yes but is it not covered in AG college it was drilled into us!!

greysides

grassroot1 wrote: »

yes but is it not covered in AG college it was drilled into us!!

Ah yes, but some of us (and some farmers) predate AG College, Grasshopper.

:D:D

Reggie.

greysides wrote: »

Ah yes, but some of us (and some farmers) predate AG College, Grasshopper.

:D:D

Or never went

greysides

This might help but you must look at the active ingredients rather than the name of the dose.

Levamisole is basically all there is in one group, the Yellow doses.

Benzimidazoles are the White doses, usually there's a hint in the name of the active ingredient: fenbendazole, albendazole, oxfendazole.

Macrocyclic lactones are the Clear doses, the ivermectin dynasty. Essentially there's only five members- ivermectin, doramectin, moxidectin, eprinomectin, abamectin. The -ectin at the end does tend to give the game away.

Within a group the properties/activity spectrum tend to be constant (for our purposes here).

Main thing to remember is that levamisole doesn't hit Type II (Inhibited) worms. Not a problem with summer dosing but a requirement for winter dosing. Only the ivermectin group have any persistency (and that varies with the member).

For worms, that's about all there is to it.

greysides

Fluke are best considered by looking at the youngest age of fluke the doses will hit. Basically, all hit adults and then go down the ages in stages.

For simplicity I'm going to divide up fluke into three categories of age. These definitions need to be remembered as they are integral to understanding fluke doses.

The age is the length of time the fluke has been in the animal.

Early Immature fluke, in the animal 0-6 weeks.

Late Immature fluke, in the animal 6-12 weeks.

Adult fluke, in the animal over 12 weeks.


* Only one dose hits the Early Immatures (and up). That's triclabendazole (yes, it's a member of the -azole family but let's not go there!) Originally, 'Fasinex', now under other names and in combinations.


* Skip the Late Immmatures, for now.

* There are three 'actives' that only hit Adult fluke. Remember these. Oxyclozanide (Zanil), Albendazole, Albex. Clorsulon, in Ivomec Super.
So, not great options for fluke unless you work within their abilities.

Dose with Zanil, or Albex at the elevated dosage, at housing and you miss the last 3 months of fluke that went into the animal. And when does fluke tend to be available to go into animals? If you house early November, then you miss all of August, September and Octobers fluke.... basically the vast majority of fluke for the year, especially in drier areas. But, 'Shure tis great stuff that Zanil, and cheap too!'

Waiting for the animals to be three months housed to kill all fluke isn't an option either.


* Now, back to the Late Immatures..... basically, everything else. Rafoxanide (Flukanide), Closantel (Flukiver), Nitroxynil (Trodax).


So, depending on how long the animals are housed and thus the age of the youngest fluke that might be in them, and whether you intend to repeat the dose or not, then you choose your fluke dose.

FOR EXAMPLE:

Fasinex will get fluke from 2 weeks up, so wait 2 weeks after housing and then dose them.

Trodax only gets them from 6 weeks up, so, either wait till they're housed 6 weeks and do them just the once, or, do them on housing and get the missed fluke with a second dose 6 weeks later. This last option might be necessary in a situation where you want to use Trodax but it's been a bad year for fluke or your ground is wet, and you can't afford to wait for 6 weeks after housing.










I think that covers it in a rough and ready way. Some may argue on the details presented but this is intended as a skeleton that's easy to understand and that you can add detail to later. As a disclaimer, I would suggest that you check the presented 'facts' before relying on them and read the datasheets, especially as for clarity I've omitted some bits that some may find important in favour of brevity and easier understanding.



The illustrations are not my own work. They come from COWS, www.cattleparasites.org.uk.

grassroot1

greysides wrote: »

I'll see about covering Fluke later..



promises, promises...

wax on wax off

greysides

Some information here, from the same source, about the administration of doses.

orm0nd

some great info there greysides

from reading a lot of posts on here , i think that some people are using far too much doses (or unsuitable products) when maybe vaccination would be a better option,

also many fail to distinguish between , lung worm, virus, or just a case of common husk

Never wrestle with pigs

This looks like a good all rounder a few weeks after housing. Anyone use it before? Iv herd a lot of good things about osmonds products. No price on the page though.


http://www.osmonds.ie/index.php/products/categories/parasite-control/product/158-orafluke

greysides

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

This looks like a good all rounder a few weeks after housing. Anyone use it before? Iv herd a lot of good things about osmonds products. No price on the page though.


http://www.osmonds.ie/index.php/products/categories/parasite-control/product/158-orafluke

Active ingredients are fenbendazole (Panacur) and rafoxanide (Flukanide). Fenbendazole is fine as a housing wormer. Rafoxanide gets fluke from 8 weeks up.

Is it good?

Well, that depends on what you need it to do and how you use it compared to what it can do.

Worms, fine.

Fluke, how long are animals housed? When were they fluke dosed last and with what? What is your land like? What was the weather like this year? Do you intend to dose again later? These are the things you need to know to decide if it can work for you.

It can be easier to decide on doses if you avoid combinations. A lot of combinations are more commercially motivated than therapeutically sensible. A lot of companies don't have two top products to combine, IMO. A combination of levamisole and zanil, given the day of housing, when you expect to fully combat liver fluke and worms, makes no sense whatsoever.

Never wrestle with pigs

Mine are in about 4 weeks. Dosed regularly during the summer with ivermectin (anemic super) I'm going to dung sample and see. Fairly dry land that they were on but a wet year. Usually don't get much ruman fluke here.

Probably go with Trodax in two weeks and a pour on for lice.

greysides

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

Mine are in about 4 weeks. Dosed regularly during the summer with ivermectin (anemic super) I'm going to dung sample and see. Fairly dry land that they were on but a wet year. Usually don't get much ruman fluke here.

Probably go with Trodax in two weeks and a pour on for lice.

Housed 4 weeks and Trodax in 2 more will cover fluke. A white dose or a ivomec type will cover worms. The ivomec would help with lice too. The worm dose could be given straight away.
Rumen fluke are not hit by that regime. It's hard to advise on Rumen fluke, the conventional advice is to cover Liver fluke without considering them and see if you need to dose for them by the response to the other dosing. In other words, if the animals are thriving after dosing then leave it be. This year in areas that have previously had RF I think I'd be dosing for them without waiting.

Who2

I usually give all cows a dose of levafas diamond this time of year. I didn't dung sample but it's the regime I've been using the last few years and seems to keep things right. Am I doing right or wrong? I'd be on dry ground but had a wet back end so was going to stick with it. Cattle in 6 weeks now.

greysides

Who2 wrote: »

I usually give all cows a dose of levafas diamond this time of year. I didn't dung sample but it's the regime I've been using the last few years and seems to keep things right. Am I doing right or wrong? I'd be on dry ground but had a wet back end so was going to stick with it. Cattle in 6 weeks now.

Levafas Diamond contains the levamisole/oxyclozanide combo I'd be unhappy about.

But you say it has been working okay for you over the years. And you're not alone. I presume you've sucklers? I know a suckler man who does the same and gets by very well, thank you. Although it's certainly not a regime I'd recommend to him if asked. It illustrates the complexity of recommending doses and why you nearly always hear 'Ask your own vet' somewhere in a discussion.

There's always an animal element that comes into play, and an environment element, as well as the parasite and dose elements.

Suckler cattle should not be under pressure in the same way dairy stock are. The cows are stronger and should have stronger immune systems. Grazing is often more extensive. Neither the calves nor the cows should suffer as much from parasites as a balance is struck between lower parasite levels and more robust immunity. Basically then, you can get away with less thorough dosing regimes without noticing an effect on performance. That is not to say there would not be a measurable improvement with more intense dosing but that there's no obvious suffering because of the lower intensity. One man I did KT for never doses cows or calves... and you'd not ever know it. He has also had sheep on the farm until recently which could have helped too. His fields have probably very low levels of parasites which his healthy stock are able to cope with. It's a situation he would need to monitor as if any of the founding stones of his situation change then things could be different.

Specifically, dosing cows with Levafas will control Rumen fluke but, at 6 weeks housed will leave fluke aged between 6 weeks to adult incompletely checked.

Note the wording 'incompletely checked' because here's an imponderable....

Closantel, the ingredient in Flukiver, and also part of Closamectin, is stated to control fluke from 6 weeks up (Late Immatures) but data that was presented when it first came out states:
>99% of adult fluke at 12 weeks
>90% of late immatures at 7 weeks
43% of immatures at 5 weeks while stunting the other 57% in size by 44% and egg laying by 36%

So while we only view it as only effective against Late Immatures and Adults, it is still affecting younger fluke. Maybe other doses do similar and the oxyclozanide has effects against a slightly wider age group than normally stated. Just not effective enough for the pharmaceutical companies to be able to make claims for it?


Levamisole will kill active worms but leave the inhibited present to activate and contaminate pastures once they go back out. So the effect depends on how many inhibited worms are present. An incalculable.

However, dung sampling for Liver fluke eggs in, say, 8 weeks would be informative. You could get worm eggs done too but a test once they're about a month out would be more useful.

grassroot1

Well there you are I thought closamectin controlled all stages of liver fluke. Good enough for me so it goes to show you really need to read up about all the products you use.

greysides

grassroot1 wrote: »

Well there you are I thought closamectin controlled all stages of liver fluke. Go enough for me so it goes to show you really need to read up about all the products you use.

The advertising for Closamectin stated 'Because of its flukicidal action and stunting effects on surviving flukes, the epidemiological efficacy potential of closantel is comparable to that of triclabendazole.'

For what it's worth...

tanko

I always thought that blanket use of Zanil and Levafas Diamond on all cows was reckoned to be a bad idea since its overuse can lead to resistance and how do you treat Rumen Fluke then.

Base price

Thanks Greysides for your very informative posts and links, I've learned a lot after reading them. I'm going to bookmark this page for future reference
I always thought that Levacide injection was safer to use for lungworms as it wasn't as aggressive as some other products e.g. Levafas Diamond. We stopped using Levasfas Diamond a 5/6 years ago as we reckoned that it triggered pneumonia in some of the calves. We never had a pneumonia reaction since using Levacide.

dodo mommy

I dung sampled a few in October and it showed up that rumen fluke was present with no sign of liver fluke at all. So when I was housing them In late October I dosed cows and weanlings with levafas diamond. I intend to dose with closamectin pour on between the Christmas and new year. Does that sound ok or would you have any other advice greysides?

greysides

dodo mommy wrote: »

I dung sampled a few in October and it showed up that rumen fluke was present with no sign of liver fluke at all. So when I was housing them In late October I dosed cows and weanlings with levafas diamond. I intend to dose with closamectin pour on between the Christmas and new year. Does that sound ok or would you have any other advice greysides?

The dung sample would need adult fluke present for there to be eggs in it. There might only have been immatures present at that stage due to timing.

The Closamectin will do the trick as regards tidying everything up. Only thing I see there is that you're delaying dosing for worms for 2 months but the levamisole dose at housing should have it under control anyway.

You need to be wary looking at dung sample results for Ruminal Fluke. Egg laying adults can be present without causing any problems while alternatively the pathogenic larvae could be causing problems with no sign of eggs in the dung. You would need to consider animal performance/clinical signs and previous farm history in deciding to dose.

valtra2

My doseing regime is calf's get done 3 times in summer and autumn for worms then everything is dung sampled 6 weeks after housing and usually calf's wean lings done for fluke and worms around then if burden is bad. Cows only ever done after calfing in spring mostly on turn out. Last few years was lei fast diamond because they showed up rumen fluke. Works for me on mixed land of wet and dry.

greysides

valtra2 wrote: »

My doseing regime is calf's get done 3 times in summer and autumn for worms then everything is dung sampled 6 weeks after housing and usually calf's wean lings done for fluke and worms around then if burden is bad. Cows only ever done after calfing in spring mostly on turn out. Last few years was lei fast diamond because they showed up rumen fluke. Works for me on mixed land of wet and dry.

If it works, it works.

Comments: Assuming sucker cows with calves. You could try dosing on the results of faecal sampling over the summer. Might save you some hassle and expense. Suckler calves on cows may well not need any dosing until after weaning. I'd be inclined dose calves and weanlings at housing either routinely or on the basis of samples avoiding waiting and losing performance.
Eight or more weeks after housing allows most fluke to have become adult and egg-shedding so that will be a good indicator of requirements. I see no point in waiting to dose cows till going out, as you are losing the chance to have them completely cleaned out over the time of the year when feeding is most expensive.

grassroot1

valtra2 wrote: »

My doseing regime is calf's get done 3 times in summer and autumn for worms then everything is dung sampled 6 weeks after housing and usually calf's wean lings done for fluke and worms around then if burden is bad. Cows only ever done after calfing in spring mostly on turn out. Last few years was lei fast diamond because they showed up rumen fluke. Works for me on mixed land of wet and dry.

Why would you dose at turn out? Surely dosing as soon as is effective/possible at the start of housing would be better.
My vet did tell me that a good time to dose a cow is when she calves as a worm rise occurs at calving

valtra2

Two reasons I dose after calling. I calf mostly in Jan Feb so cows are heavy in calf and don't like them up the crush at that stage. Always told that after calving was best time to dose suckler by few ppl. Calves are done 3 times in summer for worms because to make sure they have no worms come November and weaning time. Have went back to twice over summer but by weaning they were starting to cough. Dung samples are taking mostly for Calves but cows done as well so if it shows up as high burden I can do something about it. I only keep Calves till Apr may so once done at Christmas I will not do them again.

greysides

The periparturient rise in egg output is due to a weakening of the immune system allowing inhibited larvae to develop more freely. Modern drugs mean you don't have to wait for the inhibited worms to become active to kill them, you can kill them at housing.

valtra2

greysides wrote: »

The periparturient rise in egg output is due to a weakening of the immune system allowing inhibited larvae to develop more freely. Modern drugs mean you don't have to wait for the inhibited worms to become active to kill them, you can kill them at housing.

It's not the worms I am worried about its the loading up in the crush and getting hurt and losing a calf

Mooooo

What are lads going with with cattle still outside?, hope to outwinter a bunch of yearlings, would fasinex type product and ivermectin be the way to go. Lad I sold cows too earlier in year said they killed out active for fluke. Testing in December so will dose the cows the day of the reading.

signinlate

greysides wrote: »

Why would you dose for an infection you think is viral?

If you need to dose for worms but are worried because of a virus being present then avoid levamisole. It kills very quickly. Ivermectin and white doses work more slowly.

Also, levamisole won't cover inhibited Ostertagia either.

This part confuses me.

My vet always advises against using ivomec on calves that are coughing as it kills the worms too fast.

Instead he recommends levacide or white dose.

greysides

signinlate wrote: »

This part confuses me.

My vet always advises against using ivomec on calves that are coughing as it kills the worms too fast.

Instead he recommends levacide or white dose.

It's not just you that's confused, there seems to be a variety of opinions in the veterinary profession too. Most would agree that white doses kill slowly though.

Here are a few excerpts of information sent to me from a pharmaceutical source:

Levamisole is rapidly absorbed following administration as a drench, injection or pour on formulation. It causes an almost instantaneous spastic paralysis in nematodes. In support of the speed of action achieved by levamisole, it has been shown that 87% of lungworm burdens were reduced within 3 hours of subcutaneous drug administration (Oakley, Vet Record 1980).

Benzimidazoles/White doses are slowly absorbed and disrupt energy metabolism, leading to starvation of the parasite. In contrast to levamisole, the speed of action for fenbendazole (oral suspension) was much longer, taking 36 hours to achieve an 80% reduction in lungworm burden (Oakley 1980).

Macrocyclic latones/Clear doses are highly lipophilic and are stored in fat following administration, being slowly released over a period of time. They have varying duration of persistency against different nematodes depending on the product and formulation. Ivermectin and eprinomectin reach peak plasma levels 2-5 days following administration. They cause a flaccid paralysis of nematodes.

However...It has been established that benzimidazole anthelmintics were associated with a higher mortality rate than levamisole when treating for parasitic bronchitis (McEwan et al 1979, Jarrett et al 1980).

And....In a comparative trial where calves were artificially infected with lungworm then treated for patent infection with either levamisole or fenbendazole (McEwan et al 1979), it was found that animals treated with fenbendazole developed lesions in the lung such as peribronchial cuffing with lymphocytes and epithlialisation. Consolidation of tissue appeared to be pronounced, more so than in animals treated with levamisole and control animals. It was postulated that these effects may be due to the mode of action of the drug.

Also...Levamisole does not have full efficacy against larval stages of lungworm and does not have any persistency so diseased animals which have been treated with levamisole should not be returned to the same infected pastures as rapid re-infection can occur.
In addition, the time for development of adult lungworm in the animal is shorter than the pre-patent period, as the larval stages which have not been killed are able to develop to produce patent disease. The continued presence of this parasite is likely to lead to a continued defensive response by the hosts immune system, resulting in clinical signs typical if lungworm infection. Further pasture contamination will also occur as a result of the development of those larvae not removed following treatment.

So, I hope that clarifies the situation.:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

greysides

And to add, from another source:

Vet 1: In this practice, the adult cattle which we see with bovine lungworm are usually in a dairy herd, and often in milk.Treatment therefore is usually pour-on eprinomectin. This is expensive but carries no milk withhold and is also easy to apply. If the affected cattle are beef suckler cows which are not destined for slaughter in the short term, then ivermectin can be used to good effect. However, I would recommend levamisole, repeated in three weeks time.This is because I have seen cattle become much worse and even die when treated with ivermectin. I believe that the sudden and total destruction of all the larval stages in the animal can exacerbate the clinical signs. I have only seen this happen with ivermectin-treated animals, an effect that doesn’t seem to occur with levamisole.

Vet 2: Where milk withdrawal periods are not an issue (and in more seriously affected dairy cows) my preferred choice of anthelmintic would be for a levamisole-based product which is thought to have the advantage of paralysing the parasites rather than killing them. The aim is to avoid leaving a lung full of dead parasites. By paralysing the worms it is hoped that natural defence mechanisms (for example, the mucociliary escalator and coughing) will clear the bulk of the infection from the lungs. If necessary, treatment using a product from an alternative anthelmintic group can then be given to kill any residual parasite burden a week or two later when, because of the reduced burden, the chance of treatment making the clinical situation worse has also reduced.

Vet 3: For groups of cattle and/or for animals that are difficult to handle, the use of ivermectin in the form of pour-ons or injections could be indicated; as well as excellent efficacy, the persistence of the drug would protect against potential re-infection. In addition, the use of eprinomectin would have the advantage of a zero withhold period for milk as well as a pour-on preparation when considering treatment for lactating dairy cattle. One disadvantage with the ivermectin is the mass worm death and potential for anaphylactic shock in cattle carrying heavy parasite burdens.

grassroot1

And now with a query, my weanlings were quite soft(dosed with ivermectin P.O) this back end, I am curious whether it could be rumen fluke or coccidosis(they get vecoxin at 5 wks of age)
What tests should have been done to find out?

greysides

grassroot1 wrote: »

And now with a query, my weanlings were quite soft(dosed with ivermectin P.O) this back end, I am curious whether it could be rumen fluke or coccidosis(they get vecoxin at 5 wks of age)
What tests should have been done to find out?

Not as easy an answer as you'd wish for...

You'd submit faecal samples for analysis and then bear the following in mind when the results came back:

Coccidia: Faecal coccidial oocyst results should be interpreted with some caution. Only three out of a number of bovine coccidia species are pathogenic. Some of the non-pathogenic or weakly pathogenic species are capable of producing massive numbers of oocysts.
It is also important to remember that the absence of oocysts is not evidence of the absence of pathogenic coccidia. Peak of clinical signs may not coincide with peak oocyst shedding. Multiple animals should be sampled when coccidiosis is being investigated.
Coccidiosis cannot be diagnosed solely on the finding of oocysts and the clinical presentation and history should be taken into account.

Rumen Fluke: Many cattle have small numbers of adult rumen fluke in their stomachs and have rumen fluke eggs in their faeces. Small numbers of adult parasites cause little or no damage. It is important to distinguish between the mere presence of rumen fluke in animals that are performing well and disease associated with rumen fluke.

Adults lay the eggs. Larvae cause the disease. Adults are viewed as pretty innocuous. Larvae cause problems when present in large numbers. The presence of eggs does not mean they are the cause of the scour. If only larvae were present you could have disease without any eggs in the faeces. So yet again, you have to take the presentation and history into account and not treat for rumen fluke unless clinical signs are present.

Signs are:

• dullness
• dehydration
• rapid weight loss
• severe watery scour, which may contain traces of blood

I've seen a case recently where dullness, decreased appetite and loss of condition were the only signs.
And another where rapid dehydration, and quite a bloody scour were the signs. Yet another farm had a few cows that were a bit scoury and had lost condition. One had intestinal casts in the loose dung rolled up into marble-sized soft balls. It seemed to me that the herd of cows weren't in as good a condition as they should have been and the straw in the house was getting dirty very quickly.

These cases are all variations on a theme and not the classical bunch of severely scouring animals.

grassroot1

So in summary I should have called in my vet, taken dung samples and ask them to have a look at the results and see from there.(I have been kicking myself for not doing that anyway)
Strangely their thrive did not seem to be affected.

greysides

grassroot1 wrote: »

Strangely their thrive did not seem to be affected.

Could it have been a change of diet?

Lizard_Moon

Fair due to Greysides for tackling dosing on the forum and all excellent advice.

My opinion: In a weanling(s) with lungworm, coughing, I use levamisole but be very careful to dose accurately. Few reasons levamisole boosts the immune system (no refererence distant memory from UCD) Ivermectins, as Greysides says, kills everything, larvae and adults so in a coughing animal this can push them over the edge. The levamisole dose is used as a treatment dose. We then review the worm control program for the group and plan the grazing/housing and prevention strategies.

Every farm is different. If you have coughing calves/weanlings look up what you dosed them with and when exactly you gave it before you call into your vet for advice, or ask Greysides

grassroot1

greysides wrote: »

Could it have been a change of diet?

ya maybe it was aftergrass but they were too soft for my liking, kinda disappointed I didnt do something now

jd06

Hi just wondering when your taking dung samples do the labs give you special bags, also how does the postage work, I remember bringing in sheep samples to the post office once , had them well bagged and wrapped up several times ,she could still get the smell and wasn't too impressed, I'd imagine the cattle samples would be worse

greysides

Dung samples are best sent in screw-top bottles as gas produced from fermenting samples can pop push-down lids and cause contamination. You will be held responsible by An Post for any damage caused. Put samples in a sealable freezer bag with cotton wool to adsorb any spillage and place with the paperwork in a cardboard box.

Here's the official version.

Hard Knocks

greysides wrote: »

Dung samples are best sent in screw-top bottles as gas produced from fermenting samples can pop push-down lids and cause contamination. You will be held responsible by An Post for any damage caused. Put samples in a sealable freezer bag with cotton wool to adsorb any spillage and place with the paperwork in a cardboard box.

Here's the official version.

So you can’t hand a dirty glove to the vet & ask does that look ok :-p

High bike

Have a lot of coughing this year especially in calves 5-6 Mts old,it's a dry cough.Sucking and grazing away and no temp, what ye think lung worm??

Sugarbowl

High bike wrote: »

Have a lot of coughing this year especially in calves 5-6 Mts old,it's a dry cough.Sucking and grazing away and no temp, what ye think lung worm??

Yeah that happens here too every year. Not as prevalent yet but I hear a few yearling heifers starting now the past week. I've used Zerofen on them last year and worked well.

High bike

Sugarbowl wrote: »

Yeah that happens here too every year. Not as prevalent yet but I hear a few yearling heifers starting now the past week. I've used Zerofen on them last year and worked well.

injection or pour on?