Controlling parasites helps cows deal with challenges

Calving is a stressful time for farmer and beast alike. For dairy cows it’s physiologically challenging – imagine having to suddenly change your diet and start producing kilos of milk solids. Then just as you reach peak milk production, your ovaries need to crank into gear to produce viable eggs that hold the pregnancy. It’s a tough gig being a cow.

There are a few things we can do to ease the challenges they face. One is minimising their exposure to parasitic roundworm larvae. Cows ingest these larvae with grass every day, thousands of them. Adult cows, being older, bigger and with immunity through previous exposure, are less affected than calves but the larvae still cause production loss. The cow’s genetics will determine how the loss is expressed. Improved production and conception have been shown when worm larvae are removed. Removing the larvae isn’t done by spraying pasture but by using a long-acting endectocide such as Cydectin® Pour-On. Cydectin PourOn has the longest activity against the key production-limiting worm in cows, Ostertagia ostertagi. As larvae are ingested, they are killed in the cow before the body needs to react, saving the cow’s nutrients for a better purpose. Trials in New Zealand and overseas have shown that when cows are exposed to a larval challenge there are production responses from treatment, and this effect is repeatable.1,2,3,4,5 We should always be mindful of drench resistance, so to minimise the risk of this and maximise production gains, be strategic about which animals you treat. Logically, cows that are younger, in poor condition or have been sick or compromised in some way will likely have poorer immune responses than other cows and so may be more affected by worms. Treat them rather than the ones that are in good condition and doing well. To make things easy, Cydectin Pour-On has nil withholding periods for milk, meat and bobby calves, making it a great option to have in the shed around calving. It’s also rainfast and made in New Zealand to rigorous Zoetis quality standards.

| Cows ingest thousands of roundworm larvae with grass every day.

For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.

Cydectin is a registered trademark of Zoetis. ACVM No. A6203

1. Murphy, A. The effect of treatment with moxidectin, a long acting endectocide, on milk produc-tion in lactating dairy cows, Buiatrics World Congress, 1998. 2. McPherson WB, et al. Effect of a peri-parturient eprinomectin treatment of dairy cows on milk production, NZVJ, 2001. 3. McPherson WB. The impact of eprinomectin treatment on dairy cattle reproductive performance, Proc Society of DCV NZVA, 2000. 4. Sanchez J, et al. A meta-analysis of the milk-production response after anthelmintic treatment in naturally infected adult dairy cows, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2004. 5. Geurden T. et al. A multi-country study to assess the effect of a treatment with moxidectin pour-on during the dry period on milk production in dairy cows, Vet Parasitol, 2017.

Article supplied by Zoetis NZ