Parasites cattle

Levamisole has been found to be highly effective against a wide variety of gastrointestinal nematodes, filariids and lungworms parasitizing cattle, sheep, goats. 

Ivermectin is used in cattle, sheep and horses at 0.2 mg/kg swine at 0.3 mg/kg dogs at 0.006 mg/kg and man at 0.05 —0.2 mg/kg. It is effective against parasitic nematodes, gmbs, Hce, mites, ticks, and bots. Ivermectin is not active against tapeworms, flatworms, bacteria, or fungi. 

The most satisfactory method for the organic farmer to reduce the risk of infection to lambs from internal parasites is to practise clean grazing, which reduces parasitic infection and increases lamb growth rate (Fig. 3.5). The most effective method of clean grazing is, as we have seen, to use a three year rotational system with sheep, followed by cattle, and then arable. This presupposes land that can be ploughed. On permanent pasture farms with no arable, beef and sheep should be alternated. To make this effective, it helps if there are as many beef livestock units as sheep. If the farm contains only sheep, then it is advisable to alternate on an annual basis between ewes with twins and ewes with singles. If the flock normally produces mostly... 

Whether this enterprise contributes to other enterprises for instance, farmyard manure from the housed beef animals in winter may be essential for the continuing fertility of the silage fields, and straw from the wheat may make a useful contribution to the cost of bedding for the cattle alternating beef and sheep grazing will help to reduce parasite infection for both species (Newton, 1993). 

Christensen, C.M., Zarlenga, D.S. and Gasbarre, L.C. (1994) Ostertagia, Haemonchus, Cooperia and Oesophagostomum construction and characterization of genus-specific DNA probes to differentiate important parasites of cattle. Experimental Parasitology 78, 93-100. 

Nematode parasites present a serious problem for most animals and for humans in developing countries. These parasites produce various symptoms including ill thrift, poor growth, diarrhoea and, in around 1 % of cases, loss of life. The economic forces are such that new drugs for the treatment of nematode parasites have been developed first for animal use and only later for human use. A recent example is the development of the antibiotic anthelmintic, ivermectin, which was introduced first for the treatment of cattle nematode parasites and has subsequently been used to control river blindness , an eye condition seen in west Africa caused by farvae of Onchocerca volvulus. 

Predatory mites of the family Macrochelidae could also be an option to control parasitic nematodes. They reach the dung pat by phoresis (flies, beetles) and include nematodes in their nutrition. One study with Macrocheles glaber, added to cattle dung, showed a significant reduction of infective nematode larvae (Waller and Faedo, 1996). But little research has been performed in this field. 

Bransby, D. I. (1993). Effects of grazing management practices on parasite load and weight gain of beef cattle . Veterinary Parasitology, 46(1-4), 215-221. 

Dimander, S., Hoglund, J., Uggla, A., Sporndly, E. and Waller, P. J. (2003). Evaluation of gastro-intestinal nematode parasite control strategies for first-season grazing cattle in Sweden . Veterinary Parasitology, 111, 193-209. 

Eysker, M. (2001). Strategies for internal parasite control in organic cattle , in Hovi, M. and Vaarst, M., Positive Health Preventive Measures and Alternative Strategies. Proceedings of the Fifth NAHWOA Workshop Rpdding, Denmark-November, 59-71. 

Yeates, G., Dimander, S.-O., Waller Peter, J. and Hoglund, J. (2003). Soil nematode populations beneath faecal pats from grazing cattle treated with the ivermectin sustained-release bolus or fed the nematophagous fungus Duddingtonia flagrans to control nematode parasites . Acta Agricultural Scandinavica, Section A, Animal Science, 53, 197-206. 

Arsenic effectively controls filariasis in cattle new protective uses are under investigation. The control of parasitic nematodes (Parafllaria bovicola) in cattle was successful after 30 weekly treatments in plungement dips containing 1600 mg As203/L. However, the muscle of treated cattle... 

Arthropod parasites and the diseases they transmit are among the most important deterrents to the progress of tropical agriculture in Africa and Central and South America. No general agricultural economy can be entirely successful if domestic animals and poultry are excluded or their husbandry for any reason is unprofitable. In many tropical areas the entire livelihood of families or tribes depends on cattle that are used for food, draft, and as a measure of wealth. Outbreaks of parasites or disease epizootics that decimate or debilitate their animals can mean financial disaster or even famine for these people. 

In Central and South America the torsalo, screwworm, and cattle ticks are responsible for a large part of the injury attributable to external parasites. The bloodsucking flies, lice, and mange mites also are present and cause significant losses to growers of cattle and the wooled animals. 

Neospora caninum is an apicomplexan parasite that causes abortion in cattle. Depudecin is an inhibitor of these parasites without exerting any cytotoxicity on the host cells. This inhibitor targets the protozoal histone deacetylases (Kwon et al, 2003). 

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