We've recently had questions about whether the rain that has come in recent weeks would increase our liver fluke risk?
The answer: yes and no.
In the short term, the fluke that is affecting our animals now, and will affect our animals this back-end, came about due to the mild, wet summer we encountered.
Liver fluke requires an intermediate host, the mud snail, to proliferate.
This snail likes a combination of heat and moisture. The hotter and wetter it is, the more snails we'll have on pasture.
Last year was not a 'flukey' year because our summer was dry. This year has been very different and there is significant anecdotal evidence coming from abbatoirs of fluke presence in livers.
When we get heat and moisture together, animals carrying adult fluke burdens can infect snails by depositing eggs in their vicinity. However, it takes six weeks, once the larva from the hatched egg infects the snail, before we will have infective larvae active on pasture. These are what our animal eats to cause a liver fluke infection. After ingesting these it will take another few weeks before we see any symptoms.
This delay period is why hot, wet summers will not yield fluke symptoms until much later in the year.
The liver fluke active in our animals now is likely an early-immature, or immature fluke. It is generally not until the turn of the year that all of the fluke in our animals will have matured into aduts.
When picking a flukicide it's important to pick an active that treats the stage of liver fluke we're targeting.
In terms of damaging the liver, early-immature and immature fluke are the main culprits.
Tribex will treat both of these stages and can be used in beef, sheep and dairy (non-lactating) animals once withdrawals are adhered to.
Ridafluke will treat immature fluke in sheep and can be given to beef cattle.
Rumenil treats only mature liver fluke and can be given to beef and non-lactating dairy cattle.
Albex similarly treats mature fluke and can be given to beef, sheep and non-lactating dairy cattle.
Huge numbers
Although we're having lots of rain now, temperatures will have dropped and hence so will snail numbers.
Once they're released onto pasture, infective larvae remain viable for long periods and can overwinter.
A good fluke infection in an animal can see hundreds of fluke present. Each adult fluke has the potential to produce 20,000 eggs in a single day.
If one egg hatches and the larva infects a nearby mudsnail, a multiplication phase inside the snail means that in excess of 500 infective fluke larvae can be released after six weeks.
This means that a single wet area on a farm, such as a leaky water trough or low/compacted point in a field, can act as a fluke resevoir and cause herd- or flock-wide issues.
We've recently had questions about whether the rain that has come in recent weeks would increase our liver fluke risk?
The answer: yes and no.
In the short term, the fluke that is affecting our animals now, and will affect our animals this back-end, came about due to the mild, wet summer we encountered.
Liver fluke requires an intermediate host, the mud snail, to proliferate.
This snail likes a combination of heat and moisture. The hotter and wetter it is, the more snails we'll have on pasture.
Last year was not a 'flukey' year because our summer was dry. This year has been very different and there is significant anecdotal evidence coming from abbatoirs of fluke presence in livers.
When we get heat and moisture together, animals carrying adult fluke burdens can infect snails by depositing eggs in their vicinity. However, it takes six weeks, once the larva from the hatched egg infects the snail, before we will have infective larvae active on pasture. These are what our animal eats to cause a liver fluke infection. After ingesting these it will take another few weeks before we see any symptoms.
This delay period is why hot, wet summers will not yield fluke symptoms until much later in the year.
The liver fluke active in our animals now is likely an early-immature, or immature fluke. It is generally not until the turn of the year that all of the fluke in our animals will have matured into aduts.
When picking a flukicide it's important to pick an active that treats the stage of liver fluke we're targeting.
In terms of damaging the liver, early-immature and immature fluke are the main culprits.
Tribex will treat both of these stages and can be used in beef, sheep and dairy (non-lactating) animals once withdrawals are adhered to.
Rumenil treats only mature liver fluke and can be given to beef and non-lactating dairy cattle.
Albex similarly treats mature fluke and can be given to beef, sheep and non-lactating dairy cattle.
Huge numbers
Although we're having lots of rain now, temperatures will have dropped and hence so will snail numbers.
Once they're released onto pasture, infective larvae remain viable for long periods and can overwinter.
A good fluke infection in an animal can see hundreds of fluke present. Each adult fluke has the potential to produce 20,000 eggs in a single day.
If one egg hatches and the larva infects a nearby mudsnail, a multiplication phase inside the snail means that in excess of 500 infective fluke larvae can be released after six weeks.
This means that a single wet area on a farm, such as a leaky water trough or low/compacted point in a field, can act as a fluke resevoir and cause herd- or flock-wide issues.
Always use medicines responsibly.