Am I mad !

[Sid]

The problem with relying on FECs for lungworm is that the lungworm needs to be advanced enough to be producing eggs and you are relying on the animal coughing up and then swallowing the eggs so they can be excreted. It's a bit hit and miss and you need a very large pooled stool sample to gain any accuracy.

Looking for larvae not eggs.

You don't want a nieve herd but also a fine line between building immune response and an outbreak.

 

[hendrebc]

we stopped using so much wormer and FEC last year, FEC showed up nothing at all but the calves looked like total sh!t. Wormed them on vet advise and they made a big improvement. Can’t see that it was just a coincidence

I'm assuming cattle would be the same as sheep in this sense but if there is a high worm challenge and the FEC are coming back with nothing or low they can be using their natural immunity to kill the worms they are picking up. Killing worms like that uses a lot of energy so when you worm them and they are no longer using that energy to kill worms they improve because that energy can be used for growing again. Sheep often improve after a dose because of that even if the fec was low I don't see why young cattle would be different.
But agree with lungworm being likely as well. I f*cking hate lungworm

 

[Rossymons]

How much does the FEC cost and what's the turnaround on it?

 

[dungbeetle]

Pulsing is great for promoting natural immunity to lung worm.

I used to think this as well until I had big outbreak amongst the cows. So certainly doesnt.

 

[Water Wheel]

I used to think this as well until I had big outbreak amongst the cows. So certainly doesnt.

I thought you needed repeated reinfection to maintain immunity to lungworm . There is also Reinfection Syndrom, see below, which I dont fully grasp.

https://www.cattleparasites.org.uk/app/uploads/2018/04/Control-of-lungworm-in-cattle.pd

Control of lungworm incattle

Lungworm | August 2014 | 8
"Immunity
A strong immunity to D. viviparus infections is
usually rapidly acquired under field conditions.
In most cattle, patent infections do not usually
last longer than two to three months because
of immunity, which starts to develop from 10
days after a heavy infection.
If re-infection by exposure to infective pasture
larvae does not occur, immunity declines from
about three months post infection. Re-
infection is thus necessary to maintain
immunity.
Generally only calves in their first grazing
season are clinically affected because older
animals have acquired immunity on farms
where the disease is endemic.

Re-infection Syndrome
Lungworm challenge in older cattle, which
have acquired immunity to D. viviparus, is not
usually associated with clinical signs.
Occasionally, however, coughing may occur
in previously immune animals which are
exposed to massive larval challenge, which
might occur on pasture recently vacated by
calves suffering from clinical husk.
It can be difficult to differentiate this syndrome
from the early stages of a severe primary
infection in non-immune cattle."

 

[unlacedgecko]

This has to be the way forward, routine dosing of animals with wormers is just going to foster eventual resistance.

See triple resistant worms in sheep for a case study.