Worming calves- Maybe a ques. for Lucky P

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bird dog

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At what age should calves get their first worming? I usually work mine at 2 to 2 1/2 months. Should they be wormed then?
They are on pasture which gets pretty thin at this time of the year.

Thanks
 
The most simple answer is to do fecals on a handful and see if they have parasites. Takes grass and moisture for most parasite transmission, if either of those are lacking infection will be reduced. 2.5 month old calves can have parasites.
 
I don't have the answer but a question. We raised several litters of coon dog puppies years ago. They had worms by the time they were 4 weeks old but had never been outside. What's the difference?
 
Roundworms in dogs can basically go from one animals straight to the next through feces consumption. However, most cattle worms are required to go through developmental stages outside of the animal. Cattle can consume the eggs of these parasites and they would simply die, they have to hatch and develop outside the cow.
 
Just digging in the back of my brain KT. Round worm in pups can be transferred via the milk. The bitch has acquired immunity to the parasites which halts their development in the tissues where they lie dormant but the hormones of pregnancy and lactation especially in a young bitch mobilisers those dormant larvae and they can pass to puppies via the milk.
Hookworm tends to multiply rapidly from contaminated ground and then via the faeces and feeds on the puppies blood in the intestine producing severe anaemia.

Ken
 
My calves get wormed when they're worked at appx. 3 months and again at weaning. Heifers I retain are subsequently wormed twice a year until they're 3 years old.
TC thats about what I do but every time I do the youngsters I wonder if it is truly needed and at what age is a waste of time. Most of the calves will be as mentioned 2 to 3 months old but I will have a few just a couple weeks old. Do these get wormed also? If they don't, they won't get it until weaning or the second work which is gonna be close to wean time.
 
Best time to pour calves is when you have them in the chute. Not sold on using lots of pour on. We use Safeguard once they are in the weaning pen, which is also after worm ingestion is over for the year.
 
We don't worm calves that age unless they are on bought cows and we have no idea of what they are exposed to prior. We only worn bought cows and a very very few that may be thin looking. Have been able to build up parasite resistance in the herd, have done a few fecals over the years.... If they have a continuing problem, they leave. Calves get blackleg after about 2 months old before they get moved to pasture in the spring....cow provides immunity before that. Cows all get blackleg yearly and Triangle 10HB.
 
TC thats about what I do but every time I do the youngsters I wonder if it is truly needed and at what age is a waste of time. Most of the calves will be as mentioned 2 to 3 months old but I will have a few just a couple weeks old. Do these get wormed also? If they don't, they won't get it until weaning or the second work which is gonna be close to wean time.
I don't.
 
I do it. Imovec in a 500 ml bottle cost $0.30 per ml. A calf at 2 months is maybe 2 ml dose. That cost $0.60 per shot. The calf is already there, one more shot is no big deal. It doesn't take much in the way of weight gain to get that $0.60 back.
 
It depends...
For most of the important nematode parasites of ruminants, they have to ingest infective larvae that crawl/swim up the moisture(dew/rain) film on forages. Like this:
1603114513794.png

A 2-5 month old November to January-born calf on my farm would likely have been 'worm' free at 'turnout' in late March; a late Aug/September-born calf might, however, have some at 3 months... but without doing a fecal exam, you're just guessing.
2 week-olds? Pretty much a waste of dewormer... they're not likely to have picked up any worms by that age, and even if they had, they may not yet be at a stage that some dewormers will be effective on.

Dogs are not small cows. Their parasites are different.
Pups can be infected with rounds and hooks in utero - infective larvae in the bitch's tissues are reactivated and cross the placenta to infect the developing pups, and additionally, some of these larvae go to the mammary glands and are passed in the milk to increase infection after birth. So... pups should be dewormed early and often.
Calves not so much so.
 

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