Possible Liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica)

[Chapin81]

Has anyone had it in their herd?? What's it look like???

The green circles on this one cow which looks somewhat healthy is where the parasites "supposedly" make or dig a "cave" these two cows died one in Friday and yesterday morning. They have plenty of grass even though we are doing intensive grazing.

I'm getting them all treated in another day or two not all cows look like this.

Just to add some background to what led to this is.

6 months ago was the last time we dewormed.
2 years ago we had a cow who died from her horn rotting away. When her head was opened maggots and other living things were inside, the smell was very foul.

I think maybe either the deworming medication isn't being used properly or maybe they are tolerant against what's been used in the past.

 

[MurraysMutts]

You've got real problems my friend.
Get a vet out immediately!
Several of those cows don't look well at all. And you should have been told about it LONG BEFORE NOW.

 

[Chapin81]

You've got real problems my friend.
Get a vet out immediately!
Several of those cows don't look well at all. And you should have been told about it LONG BEFORE NOW.

Agreed we thought maybe the way we grazed affected them but there's still time. Anemia definitely set in as well.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Are you on site? Murry has good advice. Isolate anything showing signs of the problem,
Is there a facility down there that you can trust to make an accurate diagnosis?
What (if you can share it) about your methodology of animal husbandry would lead you to believe the way you graze contributed
to the problem? There are knowledgeable professionals on here who may be able to assist you or have the means to connect you
to a satisfactory solution. Good Luck.........

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Murray, I think you and Geronimo would make a great team down there!

 

[MurraysMutts]

I may have freaked out just a little bit huh?
Here it is after midnight, and I've awoken with the picture of that poor cow stuck in my head.

I know some will scream johnnes, hardware, flukes etc. But the simple fact is, without boots on the ground to "scrutinize" the situation down there, it's all just a guess.
Gonna have to have some tests ran to verify. Necropsy, etc.

The dead calves the other day are probly related.

From previous conversations I've observed about the territory, I wouldn't even rule out poisoning or some craziness!

I really hope you get it figured out soon @Chapin81

And I'll add an opinion about your help down there. They need to be kicked right in the baby factory. Most probably twice, so as they don't forget the first time.
Geronimo is not allowed to visit until this is straightened out!

 

[Chapin81]

Are you on site? Murry has good advice. Isolate anything showing signs of the problem,
Is there a facility down there that you can trust to make an accurate diagnosis?
What (if you can share it) about your methodology of animal husbandry would lead you to believe the way you graze contributed
to the problem? There are knowledgeable professionals on here who may be able to assist you or have the means to connect you
to a satisfactory solution. Good Luck.........

Hi Lee I'm actually not on-site. What we did do is we did separate 20 cows along with their calves into a separate pasture to see if we can get them into better condition over time. They have access to daily clean water, feed and minerals, Tomorrow morning I'm actually calling a vet who works for the government to see if he can take cows that may die over the next few days or weeks and determine what caused it.
I spoke to someone who specializes in the type of grazing that I'm working with, he's a vet himself and even though he's not there he also thinks I need to treat and deworm them he also thinks I have enough grass and the cattle condition should not be like the ones in the pics I posted, the last time we dewormed was 6-7 months ago but there was a possibility that we did not deworm with the right meds and I was told not all deworming meds treat all parasites. The reason no one really paid attention was an oversight especially mine
1.The calf's usually lower the cows body condition at least where we are until they are weaned, happens a lot with my herd.
2. I've switched minerals 3 times trying to find the right one for my location. I was now told to do an assessment of my soil and grasses. During this time I saw no improvement on body condition.
3. I never thought parasites would be a problem after the last deworming round because we move our cows 2-4 times a day with 60-75 days rest periods.
Before our rainy season started my old supplier of minerals did ask did you deworm because we are heading into our winter/rainy season I said no and I didn't ask why. What I did find out is that since I'm near a large river, and the lower parts of our ranch have standing water liver fluke is common in my necks of the woods.

It's not 100% a sure thing that it is liver fluke but based on the amount of grass, minerals and fresh water they receive daily I was told it has to be parasites and cows that look like ours are suffering from anemia as well OR the parasites caused anemia.

 

[Chapin81]

I may have freaked out just a little bit huh?
Here it is after midnight, and I've awoken with the picture of that poor cow stuck in my head.

I know some will scream johnnes, hardware, flukes etc. But the simple fact is, without boots on the ground to "scrutinize" the situation down there, it's all just a guess.
Gonna have to have some tests ran to verify. Necropsy, etc.

The dead calves the other day are probly related.

From previous conversations I've observed about the territory, I wouldn't even rule out poisoning or some craziness!

I really hope you get it figured out soon @Chapin81

And I'll add an opinion about your help down there. They need to be kicked right in the baby factory. Most probably twice, so as they don't forget the first time.
Geronimo is not allowed to visit until this is straightened out!

Thanks for the concern I'm still up researching liver fluke and Ivomec plus and a few other names I was given to get rid of this I'm not getting much sleep the last few days it's always something Yes your right it was a screw up and I'm also to blame because I'm thinking ehhh the calf is the culprit an deteriorating the cows body condition, the cows are probably stressed they can't walk around freely, lots of things pop in my head from time to time thinking wtf is going on. Hopefully we nip it and doesn't cause anymore problems. Also I forgot to mention usually common practice back home is no one replaces the needles when vaccinations are administered. I spoke to a buddy of mine and he suggested that's bad practice. Do you guys up here in the states do that as well. I'm assuming a sick animal will transfer bacteria, deseases or parasites right??

Thanks again.

 

[wbvs58]

I suspect you are in the tropics, what is your tick status there? The type of cattle you have do give some resistance to ticks though not absolute. We have 3 main blood born organisms here that ticks will carry and give to cattle, they are Babesia bovis, B. bigemina and Anaplasma marginale. The 1st two Babesia will cause red discoloured urine while the urine is usually clear with Anaplasma. They will all cause severe anaemia and usually a fever. It is the anaemia that you mentioned several times that rings alarm bells for me. I doubt that your problem is the fluke but don't rule it out completely. I think the cow lying down should be sacrificed and a full autopsy done by a Vet and samples sent to a diagnostic laboratory. I would be surprised if you didn't get some answers in this case.

Ken

 

[Cattlelow]

The last picture reminds me of what my rat terrier looked like after being poisoned with rat poison by the neighbor. A slow death. The vet will figure it out. Good luck to you.

 

[Travlr]

Has anyone had it in their herd?? What's it look like???

The green circles on this one cow which looks somewhat healthy is where the parasites "supposedly" make or dig a "cave" these two cows died one in Friday and yesterday morning. They have plenty of grass even though we are doing intensive grazing.

I'm getting them all treated in another day or two not all cows look like this.

Just to add some background to what led to this is.

6 months ago was the last time we dewormed.
2 years ago we had a cow who died from her horn rotting away. When her head was opened maggots and other living things were inside, the smell was very foul.

I think maybe either the deworming medication isn't being used properly or maybe they are tolerant against what's been used in the past.

I've got no experience with cattle or forage south of the United States... but those cows look like they are starved. It looks like it took a while, so your hired hands should have been plenty aware of something going on. Maybe this kind of thing is so common locally that they failed to mention it? Parasites? Disease? Bad feed? I've got no idea. But those cows didn't drop dead in that condition overnight. And as (Murray?) said, the dead calves may be (probably are) related.

Good luck... I wish I had something better to say.

Please keep us informed.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Most definitely didn't happen overnight. Hence my comment about a good kick in the shorts.

I hope to hear what happens. Good or bad.

And I apologize if I may have offended. Living off farm, in another country would drive me insane I reckon.

 

[sstterry]

Hopefully @Lucky_P will see this thread and give some insight.

 

[Lucky_P]

You need to have a veterinarian examine these cattle, and do necropsies on recent deads... or sacrifice one that's 'circling the drain'.

I've seen ONE case of liver fluke infection in my career... I spent my 40+ yrs in veterinary medicine in areas of the country (AL, TN, MO, KY) where F. hepatica was not present, so have virtually no first-hand experience with it. Fecal sedimentation technique or monoclonal antibody test for F. hepatica could provide a diagnosis - but necropsy, with examination of liver will be absolutely diagnostic, if it is a fascioliasis issue.

Ken's suggestion of tick-borne hemoparasites is definitiely worthy of consideration. Anaplasmosis is a significant issue here, year-after-year, and Theileria orientalis infection has recently been diagnosed in TN cattle not too far from here. These, and the Babesia species mentioned could cause rapid weight loss, anemia, weakness, and death.

"Thin Brahman Disease' used to be a 'thing' in TX... but was just a euphemism for Johne's Disease (paratuberculosis).

 

[JW IN VA]

You need to have a veterinarian examine these cattle, and do necropsies on recent deads... or sacrifice one that's 'circling the drain'.

I've seen ONE case of liver fluke infection in my career... I spent my 40+ yrs in veterinary medicine in areas of the country (AL, TN, MO, KY) where F. hepatica was not present, so have virtually no first-hand experience with it. Fecal sedimentation technique or monoclonal antibody test for F. hepatica could provide a diagnosis - but necropsy, with examination of liver will be absolutely diagnostic, if it is a fascioliasis issue.

Ken's suggestion of tick-borne hemoparasites is definitiely worthy of consideration. Anaplasmosis is a significant issue here, year-after-year, and Theileria orientalis infection has recently been diagnosed in TN cattle not too far from here. These, and the Babesia species mentioned could cause rapid weight loss, anemia, weakness, and death.

"Thin Brahman Disease' used to be a 'thing' in TX... but was just a euphemism for Johne's Disease (paratuberculosis).

Theileria and another tick borne disease are in Virginia, too.

I would also want to consider cows picking up metal in their feed. Long shot but could be a possibility.

 

[Chapin81]

Most definitely didn't happen overnight. Hence my comment about a good kick in the shorts.

I hope to hear what happens. Good or bad.

And I apologize if I may have offended. Living off farm, in another country would drive me insane I reckon.

Not offended at all. We finally got our meds yesterday and all cows as per the vet are going to be treated today. He thinks it's a possibility that we did not deworm correctly which has cause this, possibly six months ago to a year ago. I'll let you know what happens in a few more days. Hopefully this will take care of the problem.

 

[Chapin81]

You need to have a veterinarian examine these cattle, and do necropsies on recent deads... or sacrifice one that's 'circling the drain'.

I've seen ONE case of liver fluke infection in my career... I spent my 40+ yrs in veterinary medicine in areas of the country (AL, TN, MO, KY) where F. hepatica was not present, so have virtually no first-hand experience with it. Fecal sedimentation technique or monoclonal antibody test for F. hepatica could provide a diagnosis - but necropsy, with examination of liver will be absolutely diagnostic, if it is a fascioliasis issue.

Ken's suggestion of tick-borne hemoparasites is definitiely worthy of consideration. Anaplasmosis is a significant issue here, year-after-year, and Theileria orientalis infection has recently been diagnosed in TN cattle not too far from here. These, and the Babesia species mentioned could cause rapid weight loss, anemia, weakness, and death.

"Thin Brahman Disease' used to be a 'thing' in TX... but was just a euphemism for Johne's Disease (paratuberculosis).

Hi Lucky_P, we did have a conversation about sacrificing one and checking her to see what it could be. As of right now the last two that died last week we were unable to coordinate for anyone to pick the cattle, because we are so remote. However one of the vets I spoke to who also happens to work with the government down there Which is the equivalent of the Dept of agriculture up here in the states is willing to do the necropsy for us and take the cows, but not until another one of them lays down. For the time being they are all being dewormed today. Monday we are also giving them oxitetracycline and another dose on Thursday.

 

[WFfarm]

If I remember correctly, only the Ivomec injectable works against liver flukes, not the pour-on.

 

[Chapin81]

If I remember correctly, only the Ivomec injectable works against liver flukes, not the pour-on.

Seeing the condition that they are in I'm definitely staying away from pour-on.

 

[Travlr]

Seeing the condition that they are in I'm definitely staying away from pour-on.

You must have some pretty nasty internal parasite down there if your cows are dying from them. I've seen cows in bad condition due to parasites but I don't know of any that died from them. Of course maybe the heat and humidity is a factor that isn't one where my ranches were.

I mean... those cows were walking bones.