Read on Twitter
1. Liver fluke dillemas (thread). This cow has been looking thin. Dung sampled and - unsurprisingly - she's positive for fluke.
2. Needs to be treated with flukicide, effectively an insecticide. Don't like using these products unless I really have to. Excessive use allows fluke to build up resistance. Anyone who follows @minibeastmayhem or @MathewsFiona will be familiar with their impacts on dung inverts.
3. Vet - unsurprisingly - recommends fencing off wet areas, ponds and scrapes. That's not going to happen. These cattle are essential to managing habitats for wildlife, especially lapwing which rely on wet grassland habitat.
4. @niels_corfield recommends tall grass grazing. This means cattle don't graze the base of the sward where most parasites reside. A good idea, but won't work where we need a really short sward for wading birds.
5. My solution: Test, treat and isolate. a) Test animals and make sure I'm only treating animals that have fluke. Time consuming waiting for cows to crap.... More realistically, test a representative number of animals and treat the group if positive.
6 b) Treat with the right product. Not always clear which to use as there are lots. Different application methods, treat different stages of the life cycle, issues with resistance etc.
6 c) Most importantly, keep cattle well away from wader / wildlife areas for as long as they are excreting insecticide. How long is this though?
7. I haven't seen good evidence that tells us. @minibeastmayhem suggests this period is as long as the manufacturer states the product is effective for but I think we need more evidence on this. Probably should be provided by the companies that make the products?
