The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Farmers urged to heed feedback in fight against liver fluke
Thousands of kilos of livestock livers are being condemned by abattoirs every year as a result of liver fluke contamination and farmers are wasting a chance to gain feedback on the waste material.
Dr Philip Skuce, a principal scientist at the Moredun Research Institute, believes farmers should be asking slaughterhouses for information on the health status of their animals’ livers in order to help treat the problem more effectively on the farm.
Liver fluke results in at least 10% of sheep livers and 25% of cattle livers being condemned at a huge cost to the industry as well as losses in poor feed conversion rates and low weight gain. It can reduce weight gain by 30% in lambs and means both cattle and sheep are slower and more costly to finish.
Dr Skuce told farmers at a Moredun open day on Tirinie Farm near Aberfeldy that abattoir feedback would tell them if there were live fluke in the liver or if there were signs of historical damage.
“Diagnostics are tricky and farmers don’t test for round worms or fluke on their farms. I sympathise as it’s difficult and it costs money,” he said. “And they don’t want to wait three weeks for an answer.”
He said it meant farmers relied on chemical treatments and dosed the animals without diagnosis. That in turn has led to growing resistance to triclabendazole, one of the most effective flukicides.
“We’ve been involved in cases where farmers have treated their stock in all good faith but didn’t know until the animal couped that resistance was the issue,” said Dr Skuce.
He said the most effective thing farmers could do was to quarantine stock.
“Put a firebreak in when animals come on to the farm or when they come back from being away,” he said.
He warned some agri-environment schemes could promote fluke infection.
“Wader scrapes for wetland birds or habitat for natter-jack toads or any sort of wetland could set up mud snail heaven and promote the fluke risk,” he said.
The Moredun is aiming to devise a test for an early stage of liver fluke infection.