In all efforts of continuing my last article, there are a few more things to help our cattle here in the fall.
Parasitism is always a problem in the Ozarks. We have a very temperate climate and it is perfect for their growth. The first one to make mention of is coccidian. Although this is not a worm, it is a parasite. Coccidia are actually a protozoa and not a worm. A protozoon is generally a one cell organism. Now all God’s creatures have coccidia. It is a matter of an over run of the system with them that causes the problem. On most fecal’s that I do, I will see a few coccidia. The University coccidia lab won’t deem an infection of coccidia until they have a count of 600 coccidia per gram. I disagree with putting a number on it. We have to look at the whole animal to put things together. We can also have coccidia infecting an animal and not be shedding them in the manure.
What actually causes an infection of coccidia in an animal is stress. Stress will allow the over-run of coccidia in the intestines. One coccidia will invade an intestinal lining cell. Here it will spin through its life cycle and then rupture the intestinal cell, releasing 200-400 more coccidia. With this rupturing of intestinal lining cells, you can see how we get that characteristic black bloody diarrhea.
Normally treatment is either one week of sulfa drugs or amprolium. These drugs are oral and we normally need to extend treatment for at least 5-7 days. Now I have had clients go ahead and treat for longer with amprolium, but this may cause polio. Amprolium ties up Vitamin B1, Thiamine. A deficiency in thiamine will cause a neurological condition causing cattle to get weak and go down. This is generally called polio and is simply cured by giving thiamine by injection daily for about one week. Here again you can see, “If a little does that much good, then more ought to be better.” Well that does not work here. Please, follow directions.
What about other regular parasites? Well I have had a few cases of tapeworms this fall. Your pour on and injectable avermectins are not going to touch tapeworms. We have to go back to the old white drench dewormers to get them. So, I am drenching cattle with one this fall. And please, remember that if you use brand name safeguard, it will take a double dose to get tapeworms.
You may see tapeworms in their stools. This is the most diagnostic. We can see them on stool samples but they show up better just hanging out of the rear end. These worms will be segmented and may be as long as 6 feet hanging out. I normally figure if we have 6 feet hanging out, we probably have 60 feet inside. These worms rob your animal of its nutrition and can cause a physical blockage of the intestines. The physical blockage is the main way they cause death.
