New cattle dewormer

[Limomike]

Anyone see the RFD program last night where Merial unveiled its new long range product for beef cattle deworming?
If so, any thoughts on it? they claim it will last 100-150 days.
Heres some info on it : http://merial.com/EN/PressRoom/PressRel ... RANGE.aspx

 

[Beefy]

yeah i also posted about it. no replies yet though. i will be interested to give it a try.

 

[Limomike]

Yep, Im thinking about trying it too. They said last night the cost was about a penny per pound. We shall see.

 

[Beefy]

it would be worth it if its as good as they claim. worms are terrible down here. hard to believe still no hits.

 

[tsmaxx47]

didn't see the progran but would like to hear more myself......

 

[Talin]

Tried it no acute effects will test feces in about 3 months and see how we are doung

 

[chippie]

Here is a valid link about the product: http://merial.com/EN/PressRoom/Pres...hat-offers-season-long-persistent-parasi.aspx

Click to view label info. The image will not show the entire thing when embedded.

http://merial.com/EN/PressRoom/PublishingImages/LongRange2.jpg

 

[Howdyjabo]

Its too soon to get a good discussion on it. Other than it sounds interesting and I plan on trying it, but I won't know what I think for several months. I will use it on some sheep, so I will get some obvious results fairly quick.

I do have some concerns about Dung Beetle populations.

 

[Lucky_P]

jabo,
Before you use it on sheep or goats, a few things to consider(from a noted parasitologist who works with parasite control in small ruminants):

1. The safety of the drug has not been tested in any species other than cattle.
2. The pharmacokinetic profile(how the drug is metabolized in the host) is only known for cattle;this formulation has not been studied in any other species - and could be very different in other species - we don't know if therapeutic blood/tissue levels will even be achieved in goats/sheep, nor how long it will last or how quickly it will dissipate.
3. Ivermectin resistance is extremely common on some premises, and eprinomectin is in the same class so there will be side resistance. If resistance level is high, the product is unlikely to be effective. If resistance level is low, it will select out the resistant subpopulation, so after 1 or 2 uses you will have a population of highly resistant parasites.
4. Moxidectin(Cydectin) resistance is becoming very common on goat farms. If the worms are resistant to moxidectin, eprinomectin will not kill them.
5. Long-term control of parasites (assuming the drug is fairly effective) means that the susceptible parasites on pasture at the time of treatment (refugia) will have a significant amount of natural die off during the activity period of the drug. During that time, only eggs of resistant worms will contaminate the pasture. So after the 120-150 days of control, a large proportion of the infectious larvae on pasture will be from those resistant survivors.

I wouldn't recommend it for small ruminants; not sure I'm ready to try it in my cattle.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Yeah I thought about all that.
So far my sheep worms are not resistant to ivermectin. I bought them from a guy that keeps them in a barn all the time and never wormed, so his worm population died out years ago(one way or the other ).

And I do a 6 pasture (one time only) rotation, preceded and followed by heavy cattle grazing.

The only sheep I worm are the ones with pale lids(except in the fall when I hit them all with a white wormer). Each year theres just a few with pale lids.I try and being them back in in 30 days for a follow up worming- I notch ears on adults that I worm to keep track. But I have to bring them in every month and check(its alot of trouble).
So this year I am going to try the ivermectin on ewes with pale eyelids at spring turnout and worm all the ewe lambs. The sheep are in a trap for the winter.Then they are going to be on their own for the summer. With the persistant ivermectin I gave them a good shot at fitting in to my system(without me having to bring them back in for a follow up worming). The ones that don't thrive on my system are going to town.

 

[chippie]

Two of my concerns about the drug is the long withdrawal time and creating a super worm like Lucky_P mentioned.

 

[redcowsrule33]

I'm going to a meeting next week that will have the rep from Merial talking about this product. I'll give you the response to these questions (unless life keeps me from attending). In addition to those two concerns the prominent warning about injection site necrosis also concerns me, and would definately keep me from injecting a sheep with it.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Hadn't heard that one- Thanks

 

[chippie]

The info about injection site necrosis is on the label & website.

 

[Limomike]

I'm going to a meeting next week that will have the rep from Merial talking about this product. I'll give you the response to these questions (unless life keeps me from attending). In addition to those two concerns the prominent warning about injection site necrosis also concerns me, and would definately keep me from injecting a sheep with it.

Yep, because they are gonna tell you that it is developed for cattle specifically.

 

[redcowsrule33]

Wasn't planning on addressing the sheep thing with them anyway, since it is a prescription dewormer and I would never advocate using anything OTC or otherwise extra-label without consulting a vet first, for all of the reasons Lucky P mentioned. It's asking for trouble. There are plenty of dewormers out there for sheep that are approved, not with the long-acting action, but litigation sucks, people, so don't go there.

To address the resistance: they claim that a) since resistance has not been confirmed widely in cattle parasites to eprinomectin and b) the drug spends a long time above the levels needed to kill susceptible parasites and spends very little time under that level (which is what is supposed to select for resistance), they do not feel that resistance will be an issue down the road. This is in agreement with the current line of thought that you should use the same product until it doesn't work, then switch, rather than rotate as we have been taught for years.

As for the withdrawal time: it apparently forms some sort of matrix under the skin that breaks down over a period of time (which is what releases the second wave of drug) so yes, if you inject a cow with it you are stuck wth her for 48 days.

Other things I learned: not approved for use in bulls (no safety studies performed yet) or calves under 3 months old. Also not for feedlots or intensive grazing situations. The last one is what gets me. It's something about how the manure is concentrated in these situations and is above the threshold that is allowed for background contamination. Something like as long as you don't graze the acreage for less than 4 days and/or do not exceed 50,000# animal weight/acre (I have to look that up again). Still have to wrap my mind around that one. Couldn't question it further since the guy who was supposed to do the talk was stuck in Atlanta due to weather so it was just the rep.

FWIW.