Rumen Fluke

[ladycrofter]

Rumen fluke here, and if it's here in the Highlands, it's everywhere . We suspected a missing link, with losing a few healthy lambs last summer. Just suddenly going downhill for no reason, looking flukey but shouldn't be, and in spite of a very effective health plan.
After reading the comments on here we decided to change our Feb pre-lambing worm/adult fluke drench to Levafas Diamond which specifically kills rumen fluke. I took some dung samples while the different mobs were gathered in the yard in early March for vaxxing. Thanks Ridgeway Research free and fast testing! Rumen fluke eggs present.
View attachment 1171560
Otherwise, no liver fluke hooray! Dosing regime is working.
BTW I was at a seminar lately and ask about rumen fluke. The vet said it did the sheep no harm. Really?? I was also given three conflicting versions of worming advice. Which is why we tend to make our own decisions on this farm.

 

[aangus]

Rumen fluke here, and if it's here in the Highlands, it's everywhere . We suspected a missing link, with losing a few healthy lambs last summer. Just suddenly going downhill for no reason, looking flukey but shouldn't be, and in spite of a very effective health plan.
After reading the comments on here we decided to change our Feb pre-lambing worm/adult fluke drench to Levafas Diamond which specifically kills rumen fluke. I took some dung samples while the different mobs were gathered in the yard in early March for vaxxing. Thanks Ridgeway Research free and fast testing! Rumen fluke eggs present.
View attachment 1171560
Otherwise, no liver fluke hooray! Dosing regime is working.
BTW I was at a seminar lately and ask about rumen fluke. The vet said it did the sheep no harm. Really?? I was also given three conflicting versions of worming advice. Which is why we tend to make our own decisions on this farm.

Vet also told me that. That’s why I dose them early August with Levafas Diamond

 

[ladycrofter]

Vet also told me that. That’s why I dose them early August with Levafas Diamond

Straying off my own topic here but . . . I'm sorry to say I just don't trust vets' advice anymore. I think they just repeat what the salespeople tell them, and what the salespeople tell them is based on research that was funded by the company the salespeople represent.
An example from the seminar: Dose late summer lambs with Zolvix to kill everything. Absolutely FFS no! Anyone with any degree of education in biology or science knows the concept of LD50, Lethal Dose 50, the measure of how effective the kill drug is. How much it takes to kill 50% of the sample, because as we all know you never kill everything. Spontaneous mutations means some survive and that's how we've ended up with wormer resistance etc.
I queried while we would want to go through a season of using our regular wormers (or not worming) and then use Zolvix on top of that?? To allegedly kill worms that were still susceptible to Class 1-3 wormers? To create worms resistant to our only Class 4? What I regard as a nuclear deterrent that hopefully we won't need here?

The answer? "That's just what we're being told now". This from a department vet.

rant over

 

[Woolless]

I remember about 8 years whilst working as an abattoir vet being called to have a look at a sample in the gut room. The operative, highly experienced and not daft, said there was 'maggots' on the lining of a rumen. Turned out it was rumen fluke, first time he'd seen it and he'd been working in gut rooms for years.

 

[Tractor cymru]

Have had the same problem with rumen fluke for a few years now. Was also told that they do no harm to sheep which is totally rubbish I'm my view. Levafas diamond turned them around once dosed.
I now try and use zanil as a dose to avoid the combination dose where they don't require worming.

 

[onesiedale]

so are there any symptoms in the livestock animal to show rumen fluke, or is it just one that you find in the abattoir only?

 

[nonemouse]

We had major problems with liver fluke in adult dairy cows about 17 years since, we treated them for 2 years ( but there is limited options to treat in milking cows especially as AYR calving) now we dung sample at housing every year and for last 15 years not found liverfluke but do find rumen fluke most years, every vet has said don’t impact adult cows (and no licensed treatment)

 

[primmiemoo]

Rumen fluke here, and if it's here in the Highlands, it's everywhere . We suspected a missing link, with losing a few healthy lambs last summer. Just suddenly going downhill for no reason, looking flukey but shouldn't be, and in spite of a very effective health plan.
After reading the comments on here we decided to change our Feb pre-lambing worm/adult fluke drench to Levafas Diamond which specifically kills rumen fluke. I took some dung samples while the different mobs were gathered in the yard in early March for vaxxing. Thanks Ridgeway Research free and fast testing! Rumen fluke eggs present.
View attachment 1171560
Otherwise, no liver fluke hooray! Dosing regime is working.
BTW I was at a seminar lately and ask about rumen fluke. The vet said it did the sheep no harm. Really?? I was also given three conflicting versions of worming advice. Which is why we tend to make our own decisions on this farm.

For some reason, I'm disallowed access to the attachment. Have you posted a pic of typical rumen fluke eggs, or is it a report, please?

The next group to lamb hasn't been indoors quite long enough to have their fluke dose. Will the research station take samples for testing from anywhere in the UK?

I understand your frustration with conflicting worming advice. We've used Zolvix only the once. It worked. As far as we're concerned, the clear out has taken place, so it's back to the normal wormers ~ with the aim of only worming according to FEC monitoring. This is what the specialist sheep vet in our practice recommends, too, but one of their non-sheepy colleagues went with what's on the manufacturer's blurb. We need more sheep specialists, don't we.

 

[Sharpy]

Re rumen fluke, we had cattle (cows and calves) not doing right last winter, dung sample picked up both liver fluke and rumen fluke, dosed accordingly and they improved. Bit quicker on the ball this year and rumen fluke present again plus an individual sample had liver fluke. Dosed accordingly again.
We had to specify we wanted tested for rumen fluke though.

 

[ladycrofter]

@primmiemoo sorry, it was just a screenshot of test results. 5 samples, 1 or 2 rumen fluke eggs counted in each.

 

[ringi]

"There is no published research that proves rumen fluke is harmful to livestock production" != "rumen fluke is not harmful".

 

[TheRock]

What time of year is best to dose for rumen fluke?

 

[ladycrofter]

Rumen fluke have the same life cycle as liver fluke and go through the same snail. Good leaflet from SCOPS.

Link on TFF to the company Ridgeway, free testing and they send sampling bags and postage paid returned packaging. They tested for worms, liver fluke, rumen fluke and and cocci.

Our dosing routine won't change but we'll need to have a look at the drugs we're using because oxyclozanide (rumen and liver fluke killer) only kills late to mature fluke.

Not surprised there's no studies about the damage it does because there's no money to be made in studying it, and that is certainly the first criteria . There's already a drug that kills rumen fluke and I'm not sure how you would arrange a study where liver fluke wouldn't interfere, because they both are found in the same areas.

 

[Davy_g]

Every time I have a beast that is not thriving or is generally loose of the dung - I have a dung sample checked by the vet. Always rumen fluke - been the story for about 4 years - I have never drenced for any fluke before that. Initially sampled after a conversation with a wise chap after i was at a loose end with heifers and a few cows producing a lot of cud balls - he suggested this could be an indicator of rumen fluke.

Used a few different oxyclozanide drenches. Doesnt seem to be very effective ie treated poor doers 6 weeks after housing. Sampled again and rumen fluke again. Ive only got wise to asking for the representative number as a guide more than anything else as im concerned about resistance.....

My vet says an animal is rumen fluke positive or not. I think its a grey area where a background is acceptable and higher levels can be problematic / clinical. I just dont know what that guide numner is - maybe its relative to the sample size or test run. Any thoughts?

Stock being housed less than 2 get Levafas Diamond post housing.

Hardly ever worms present in any samples taken.

@ringi - this is not published research but a reasonable source. Suggest a significant burden of rumen fluke has clinical sumptoms. If nothing else it leaves a beast susceptable to other parasites, infections, bacteria or viruses.

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://animalhealthireland.ie/assets/uploads/2021/04/AHI-Parasite-Control-Rumen-Fluke-2021.pdf

View attachment AHI-Parasite-Control-Rumen-Fluke-2021.pdfView attachment AHI-Parasite-Control-Rumen-Fluke-2021.pdf

 

[livestock 1]

so are there any symptoms in the livestock animal to show rumen fluke, or is it just one that you find in the abattoir only?

The ones I had had a grey ish scour that’s about it apart from not doing right

 

[Bury the Trash]

For some reason, I'm disallowed access to the attachment. Have you posted a pic of typical rumen fluke eggs, or is it a report, please?

The next group to lamb hasn't been indoors quite long enough to have their fluke dose. Will the research station take samples for testing from anywhere in the UK?

I understand your frustration with conflicting worming advice. We've used Zolvix only the once. It worked. As far as we're concerned, the clear out has taken place, so it's back to the normal wormers ~ with the aim of only worming according to FEC monitoring. This is what the specialist sheep vet in our practice recommends, too, but one of their non-sheepy colleagues went with what's on the manufacturer's blurb. We need more sheep specialists, don't we.

But we won't get them if numbers of sheep kept keeps on reducing

 

[TheRock]

Where we are ewes need to be fluke drenched every 4-6 weeks as it’s so wet. Should we be doing them for rumen fluke a few times over the season?

 

[livestock 1]

Where we are ewes need to be fluke drenched every 4-6 weeks as it’s so wet. Should we be doing them for rumen fluke a few times over the season?

I have some land like that or a farm like that and I don’t do them for rumen fluke

 

[ladycrofter]

Where we are ewes need to be fluke drenched every 4-6 weeks as it’s so wet. Should we be doing them for rumen fluke a few times over the season?

If you've got that many dosing windows, possibly. That's a lot of dosing.
We dose pre-lambing, late summer, and at tupping. The liver fluke regime is working beautifully (zero heading into lambing) so we may have to consider a separate rumen dose. It's a bugger that oxyclozanide doesn't kill early immature liver fluke.