Stay On Top Of Your Deworming Program

With spring turnout just around the corner, the parasites lurking in your pastures are gearing up to invade your herd. To protect your cattle and your bottom line,   Dr. David Shirbroun, a professional services veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim, said a great grazing program starts with asking your veterinarian key questions about sustainable parasite management.  It’s important to have a deworming program read for the grazing season.

“Well, when we think about gastrointestinal worms, we have to remember that they can significantly impact the weight gain of animals, average daily gain of growing animals, and potentially weight maintenance on more mature animals. Worms can also have a very significant effect on reproduction, how easily our cows are getting bred, how soon that calving interval can be, and just the overall profitability of an operation," Shirbroun said.  "So, it's always a good idea to plan ahead. We're concerned about cattle picking up worms is definitely on green grass. So, as we move into the grazing season, we want to make sure that we've got a good deworming plan in place. It's not only the worms that cattle can pick up in this coming grazing season, but it’s also possible that those cattle are actually currently carrying worms, and if we can time our deworming correctly, we can eliminate those worms that they're currently carrying so that they're not actually seeding the pasture and increasing the worm burden on the pasture.”

Shirbroun said there are several questions producers need to ask their veterinarians when planning a deworming program for grazing cattle.

“First and foremost is, when is the best time to treat for optimal efficacy for the parasites that are in the area? Discuss with your veterinarian what kind of parasites we're trying to go after and what worms pose the greatest threat to the particular animal that we're going to be deworming because there are different stages of worms that will cause different issues," Shirbroun said.  "Then, what's the weather going to look like? That will affect the amount of parasites that could be on a pasture. And then also, you know, discuss what are the best products to be used to get the most from that deworming program.”

One of the most important steps in developing a deworming program, he noted, is to work with your veterinarian.

“They’re the experts in the area as far as what kind of parasites that we're seeing in this particular area, and then also, you know, they keep up on our education," Shirbroun said.  "So, there are always changes in philosophies, as far as you know, how we should be deworming cattle? Should we be using different techniques and different products? And deworming cattle is a lot more than just using a deworming product. There's a lot more that comes with it, along with management techniques and potentially looking at combination treatments. We need to make sure that, as producers, we're maximizing the efficacy of the products we have and not creating any kind of resistance issues. And so, working with a veterinarian can help you as far as sustainability of the deworming products.”

And he noted there are things producers can do to maximize their deworming programs.

“We can try to make sure that if we're bringing in new animals, we're treating those animals appropriately so they're not bringing in any kind of parasite infections or even infectious disease, so we could try to keep those animals quarantined," Shirbroun added.  "And then, we also just need to be constantly reviewing our deworming programs and our vaccination programs because things do change, and we always need to make sure that we're really maximizing the advocacy and thus maximizing our operations.“

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