Liver flukes are small but mighty and can cause a lot of harm to cattle livers. Flukes are armed with cuticular spines that help them migrate through tissues, rupture blood vessels and cause severe hemorrhage in the liver and surrounding bile ducts.
Combating flukes takes a different strategy than other parasites because of their intermediary host of mud snails, but the extra steps are worth it to prevent damage.
Fluke damage can result in lost performance and liver condemnations, so it pays to take care of liver flukes in deworming decisions.1
A solid deworming protocol needs to be well-rounded because parasites differ in their reactions to deworming ingredients and administration methods.
“It was always said, if you’re going to try to control liver flukes in the southeastern segment, you needed to deworm those cattle sometime in September,” said Jody Wade, DVM, Boehringer Ingelheim. “The goal was to hit that life cycle perfectly and kill some of those adult stages.
“That thinking has changed because we understand that life cycle better now,” he added. “In the southeastern part of the country, Texas included, these flukes are around most of the year because of the wetter environment that’s conducive to mud snails.”
Because of this, he says optimal deworming timing is nuanced depending on the presence of mud snails, so involving your veterinarian is critical. However, a good rule of thumb for combatting adult liver flukes is at the beginning of the wet season, which typically occurs in late summer or October and November depending on your area.
Consider these questions when developing a deworming program.
For this operation type, what parasites should I be most concerned about?
What parasite risks are most relevant to our region?
For our region, when should I treat for nematodes vs. liver flukes?
What herd members have the highest risk of parasitic infections?
How has the weather this year affected the parasite populations in our area?
How can combination treatment help preserve the efficacy of the products the producer is already using in their treatment protocol?
How can a fecal egg count reduction test to evaluate the effectiveness of a deworming program?
What pasture management practices can a producer use to lower the risk of parasite and fluke infestations?
How can cattle management affect the efficacy of the deworming program?
How can I implement refugia into the deworming protocol?
“Producers are basing a lot more decisions on science, instead of just guessing,” said Dr. Wade. “So we recommend not taking a chance and adding a fluke finder test to your fecal egg count test. If we do diagnostics, then scientifically, we can say yes, we do have an issue with parasites or liver flukes here.”
