Cattle Dosing Schedule

Farm King · 18-09-2013 03:06PM #1

Sat down last night to draw up an annual dosing schedule for the cattle. I used a mixture of my own procedures (fairly random from year to year), neighbours advice and some research online. I came away with possibly more questions than answers but here is what I have came up with so far:

June(6 weeks after turnout): Dose all cows for fluke and all calves for fluke & worms

September: Dose all calves for worms

November(3 weeks after housing): Dose all cows for fluke & worms and all calves for worms

Turnout is usually around end of april / early may, calves are born between february & april and all cattle are usually housed by early november.

How does this compare with other farmers experience and have you any comments on my proposed schedule. I am open to any suggestions you may have.

18-09-2013 04:41PM

Cows once a year 4 weeks after housing should be plenty. Use an oral dose for worm and fluke. Much cheaper than injectables.
Use the housing period to break the infection cycle. Only dose individual cows during the year if they look dirty. I'd worm 1st Calvers more regularly.

Spring born suck calves with a worming pour start of June. Start of August avoiding weaning timing. Then 4 weeks after housing with a fluke and worm...

Hiefers and bullocks 8-12weeks for worms after turn out. Then 6-8 wks thereafter depending on level of coughing. Prob would not bother with a fluke dose unless there was indications for it.

Above is based on a dry farm
Have you ever dung sampled?

Farm King · 18-09-2013 05:19PM

No - have never dung sampled. Would you recommend it?

Our farm would be wet enough.

18-09-2013 05:34PM

Farm King wrote: »

No - have never dung sampled. Would you recommend it?

Our farm would be wet enough.

Have a chat with your vet about dung sampling. Mostly used in dairy situations were dosing will impact on milk production. Sampling can help avoid prescriptive only dosing and target a proven need.

If your a wet farm maybe tighten up the interval by a couple weeks and dose cows for fluke twice a year and the one year old sock in their 2nd year.
Discuss it with your vet he knows your situation best... And make sure you write it down;-) before he/she rushes off.

pakalasa · 18-09-2013 07:17PM

Good idea to do suckler calves 3 weeks before weaning as it 'cleans out' the worms well in time before the stressful weaning. Money well spent.

Dampintheattic · 18-09-2013 07:23PM

pakalasa wrote: »

Good idea to do suckler calves 3 weeks before weaning as it 'cleans out' the worms well in time before the stressful weaning. Money well spent.

With Levacide. Best job around weaning. Slow worm kill. Least stress on calves.

Farm King · 19-09-2013 12:46PM

Looked at my schedule again last night and made some revisions and added some more detail. I would welcome comments from others on their annual dosing schedule.

Mid June(4-6 weeks after turnout): Dose all cows for fluke (Fasinex) and all calves for worms (Ivomec Classic)

Early August : Dose all calves for worms (Ivomec Classic)

September(3-4 weeks before weaning): Dose all calves for worms (Levacide)

November(3 weeks after housing): Dose all cows for fluke & worms (Levafas Diamond) and all calves for worms (Levacide)

Turnout is usually around end of april / early may, calves are born between february & april and all cattle are usually housed by early november.

Farm King · 23-09-2013 11:58AM

Heading to the ploughing and hope to chat to the companies selling the dosing supplies. Anybody any ideas on my proposals or questions I should put to the reps?

Dunedin · 23-09-2013 12:24PM

Farm King wrote: »

Looked at my schedule again last night and made some revisions and added some more detail. I would welcome comments from others on their annual dosing schedule.

Mid June(4-6 weeks after turnout): Dose all cows for fluke (Fasinex) and all calves for worms (Ivomec Classic)

Early August : Dose all calves for worms (Ivomec Classic)

September(3-4 weeks before weaning): Dose all calves for worms (Levacide)

November(3 weeks after housing): Dose all cows for fluke & worms (Levafas Diamond) and all calves for worms (Levacide)

Turnout is usually around end of april / early may, calves are born between february & april and all cattle are usually housed by early november.

you have missed doing the calves for fluke. also, Levafas D only kills Rumen fluke and Adult liver fluke - fluke will not reach adult stage until 6-7 weeks after housing.

Do your calves with either Endofluke or fasinex - both kill all stages of liver fluke. Personally I woudl recommend dosing on the day of housing. it is not a hard dose on cattle (unlike LD which is) so the stress will be limited. That said, I would only suggest this if you have your calves well weaned, on meal etc prior to housing.

if you havn't the calves weaned, then leave for a few weeks after housing and then dose.

Dozer1 · 23-09-2013 12:36PM

don't mean to hi-jack the thread but its kinda relevant, got a heifer only calved in March and three weeks ago her dung went pure wattery, I dosed her with closmectin pour on to cover fluke and worms and she got a few scour powders also, put her on hay and weaned the calf off her. Gave it a few weeks but no real improvement, seen some blood in the dung saturday so got the vet to look at her as he was in doing some blood testing, he reckoned it was rumen fluke or Coccidiosis so treated her for both, any idea how long it would take to see an improvement in her?

agriman27 · 23-09-2013 08:24PM

Dampintheattic wrote: »

With Levacide. Best job around weaning. Slow worm kill. Least stress on calves.

That's interesting I never heard that before is that a well known benefit of levacide or did you realise this yourself

Cattle Dosing Schedule

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