Heifers are home from grazing - is there liver fluke lurking?

From testing over the years we have found Liver fluke infection in grazing heifers, particularly from the King Country and areas where cattle graze on wet marshy pastures and margins of streams. The problem is that once infected, the adult fluke will live for years in your cows.

Often the first indication will be the presence of liver fluke on the killing sheet from cull cows. These are usually old flukes that have been living in the liver since they were grazing heifers.

Low levels of liver fluke cause decreased fertility, increased susceptibility to other diseases and parasites as well as decreased weight gain in growing cattle, and decreased milk production.

If you would like to know if you have an active infection in your heifers, a blood test from a group of animals will provide the answer.

Controlling fluke requires a flukacide and these drugs have a significant milk withhold so treatment needs to be carried out well before calving.

Drenching with Flukecare + Se is the most effective treatment, killing adult and immature fluke, BZ sensitive intestinal worms and four weeks of Selenium supplementation. It has a milk withholding of 35 days and meat and bobby calves of 28 days.

Alternatively, Ivomec Plus injection is effective in the control of adult fluke as well as mectin sensitive intestinal parasites and lungworm, as well as aiding in the control of lice. It has a milk withholding of 14 days and meat and bobby calves of 28 days.

https://nz.virbac.com/products/parasiticides-drenches/flukecare-plus-se#image