Cow/Horse parasite question for Vicki

[Anonymous]

I am running cattle on leased pasture where two horses owned by someone else spend the winter. The horses are ignored much of the time, and I doubt very much they are ever wormed. They are pulled off the pasture in late spring after my cattle go in. When I put the cows out on the grass, I do restrict the horses to a part of the pasture my cows don't graze.

I'm curious as to whether there are parasites that can cross over to my cattle from the horses. We run a good vaccination/worming program with our cattle, so I'm not too worried. More curiosity than anything.

 

[Anonymous]

The species of worms I can think of off the top of my head will not transmit between horses to cattle. Eimeria etc are species specific as well. I know brucellosis in cattle causes fistulous withers in horses.... Horses get ascarids, bots, pinworms, tapes, etc, but not cattle. Of course, you may have exotic worms to me that do transfer over, so a good deworming program is always a great idea!

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

I was told that mixing livestock helps eliminate some forms of parasites. We run our cows and horses together and haven't had to worm the horses in 4 yrs. We do a fecal every 2 mos. and haven't ever had a worm egg. I do worm the cows regularly though.

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