Cattle that were housed in mid-October are indoors for over 13 weeks at this stage. Therefore, it is the perfect time to take a dung sample to see if your housing or post-housing dose has worked.
Cattle that were housed in mid-October are indoors for over 13 weeks at this stage.
Therefore, it is the perfect time to take a dung sample to see if your housing or post-housing dose has worked.
Take a fresh faecal egg sample from a number of stock groups on the farm and get it tested.
If your housing dose worked, then there should be no eggs being laid currently and so the sample will be clear.
If the sample is not clear, then you need to investigate the problem further to see why the dosing programme has not worked.
Resistance
It could mean that you a resistance issue to the product used or, where cattle were not weighed at dosing, perhaps you underdosed, ie did not use a sufficient amount of product for the weight of the animals being treated.
Where an issue is detected, sit down with your vet and discuss the possible causes and come up with a solution for both now and next year.
Another useful tool for farmers slaughtering cattle out of the shed this winter is to look for the Beef HealthCheck reports from AHI to assess if there are any problems with livers at the point of slaughter.
This report is sent out with the remittance advice slip from the factory.
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