Post by simplynaturalfarm on Mar 11, 2008 12:10:26 GMT -5
Exerpt from article by Geni Wren - not copyrighted
The only parasite we expect to see in cattle being passed from dam to the calf through milk is strongyloides spp.
Bert Stromburg phd, university of Minnesota college of veterinary medicine said "We've actually had calves that were days old shedding Strongyloides eggs. Fortunately this is a relatively benign parasite and usually is quite short lived. We see 99% of these eggs gone in one month.
There is always the risk of infection via contamination by the dam to the young calf. The issue becomes one of the time required for the egg to hatch and develop to the infective state. They may also contaminate the udder and thus provide another opportunity for ingestion/infection. Besides Strongyloides, this is also true for coccidia and Cryptosporidium.
"We've actually seen Strongyloides in about 4 days, whereas most other nematode parasites require about the standard three week prepatent period." says Stromberg
Worms may be a problem when present in the calf as the young calf has a developing immune system and is thus very susceptible to most parasites. Remove the worms and the animal recovers quickly, however this is not always true for coccidiosis.
"These parasites can cause so much damage that the animals will never catch up to it's cohorts. There are some studies that would suggest that there is a bit of a compensatory gain when the parasites are removed."
Parasites can be fatal: however Stromberg says these are under very poor conditions and with reasonable and perhaps even poor care, this should never happen.
The best diagnostic test for parasites is still the fecal exam. Even though parasites can be a problem in young calves, Stronberg cautions not to overdo deworming. "Where we used to recommend routine deworming, we now suggest that we only deworm when needed because of the anthelmintic resistance issue."
The only parasite we expect to see in cattle being passed from dam to the calf through milk is strongyloides spp.
Bert Stromburg phd, university of Minnesota college of veterinary medicine said "We've actually had calves that were days old shedding Strongyloides eggs. Fortunately this is a relatively benign parasite and usually is quite short lived. We see 99% of these eggs gone in one month.
There is always the risk of infection via contamination by the dam to the young calf. The issue becomes one of the time required for the egg to hatch and develop to the infective state. They may also contaminate the udder and thus provide another opportunity for ingestion/infection. Besides Strongyloides, this is also true for coccidia and Cryptosporidium.
"We've actually seen Strongyloides in about 4 days, whereas most other nematode parasites require about the standard three week prepatent period." says Stromberg
Worms may be a problem when present in the calf as the young calf has a developing immune system and is thus very susceptible to most parasites. Remove the worms and the animal recovers quickly, however this is not always true for coccidiosis.
"These parasites can cause so much damage that the animals will never catch up to it's cohorts. There are some studies that would suggest that there is a bit of a compensatory gain when the parasites are removed."
Parasites can be fatal: however Stromberg says these are under very poor conditions and with reasonable and perhaps even poor care, this should never happen.
The best diagnostic test for parasites is still the fecal exam. Even though parasites can be a problem in young calves, Stronberg cautions not to overdo deworming. "Where we used to recommend routine deworming, we now suggest that we only deworm when needed because of the anthelmintic resistance issue."