FECRT

Problem

It has always been a mystery to cattle producers if the de-wormers were working properly, unknown activity on de-wormers in cattle could be costing producers lost income.  Calves not gaining weight, or poorly doing cows could wreak havoc on a farm.  Breckinridge county joined the FECRT with Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler and the grant they had received, by collecting manure samples from various farms across 3 counties.   The deworming practices on each one of the farms ranged from using 2 products 2 times a year to the other end of the spectrum of no de-wormers for the past 3 years.  Producers and veterinarians are in search of the answer, ‘are my de-wormers effective’.

Education

Breckinridge County alone sells over $13 million in beef animals annually.  Education is one effort that we always do through the local veterinarians and production meetings.  But like in most cases, seeing is believing.  With the assistance of several cattle producers in the area we were able to provide that physical proof that we need to answer the question ‘are my de-wormers effective’.  Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler, Dr. Arnold, and Kevin Johnson (MERCK) were looking for participants in 'on farm trials' for a Fecal Egg Count Reduction Trial (FECRT ).  Producers and veterinarians were contacted and informed on the program and the requirements to participate.   The first spring it was extremely difficult to find producers that were eligible, most had already worked their herds.  After an explanation of the program all summer long, they put it on their calendars to contact the Cooperative Extension Office before working their herds in the fall.

Willing cattle producers were not hard to find, maybe hard to catch.  The fall cattle working time was extremely busy catching herds before, during and after they were worked.  The producers had herds lined up to take samples and some farms took their own samples and returned them to the Extension Office, and that’s how committed the producers were to find the answer.  Each producer had fill out a production survey that did not weigh in on their test results.  All producers were asked if they had ever done fecal egg counts, and no one had ever received the results from any sampling.

Partners

Along with the grant applicants, in our county the veterinarians were excited to see some local projects being conducted to validate their programs that they prescribe.    

Samples were taken at vaccination time then taken out in the field or in the chute 2 weeks later.  Over 20 herds (cows and calves) were taken within 3 counties, and the cows and calves were taken separately, and they were taken 2 times, 20 samples per 'lot' (cows and calves taken separately).      

Five percent of the cows were found to have less than test standards for the trial.  We do not interpret this finding as a sign to stop deworming, it just shows us that the de-wormers are working in the cow herd.  This is a great and welcome result.  Calves of all sizes were found to have varying amounts of parasites before and in many cases 2 weeks after the de-wormers were administered.  Pre-worming infections range from 1.65 eggs per 3 grams to 172.5 eggs per 3 grams.   Post-deworming infections range from 0 to 14.85.  Amazing results.  But there were farms where the numbers increased instead of decreasing.  Farm visits were made, and causes were determined, and in some cases the animals were revaccinated to catch those parasites they were missing with their original deworming practices.  

 Local Results

In one case, a producer participated in the program and her calves came back as 100% infected with parasites, before and after the dewormers were applied.  Knowing each animal and she had applied the dewormers herself.  She decided to switch up the dewormers active ingredient and she took samples 14 days after that application, and they came back as 100% clear.  She immediately saw an improvement in their weight gain, hair coat and when they were sold, she saw an average of 100# increase in their selling weight from the previous year.  

One farm had not vaccinated or dewormed in 5 years (and it showed in their over all appearance) but were convinced to start back again to be able work with this research project.  I consulted with them on the probability that they would not have time to get them back up, if the 2-week test came back as no or very little improvement in egg count, so they used a double deworming protocol, with 2 different active ingredients.   They contacted a veterinarian to assist with working the herds.   The veterinarian was impressed with the post de-worming results, as the pre-de-worming results were very high in parasite eggs.  In their area it is hard to keep only one veterinarian, they bounce back and forth to keep an open line to a veterinarian in emergencies.  The post de-worming numbers showed a 100% cleanup in eggs counts.   The cows and calves made a tremendous turn-around in appearance as well.  The producer has intentions to continue ‘working’ their herd since they’ve had this jumpstart.  

Over 50% of the participants in the program plan on testing in the future with a funding from a different program.  Now that our producers have been a partner in this program, they will be more eager to listen to the results and be proactive in choosing their de-wormers.  A follow up meeting with Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler proved that others are interested in the information that was generated from the statewide and especially local trial.  This meeting was highly regarded by those in attendance as very informative and interactive.