worming newborns

[Alan]

I spoke with a Merial tech the other day, I've been thinking of adding a shot of Ivermic Plus to the new born calf treatments. Merial said there is no age restrictions to giving the dose. Anyone give a newborn (24hrs old) a dose of wormer? I can't see how it could hurt. BTW I also treat newborns with Bo-SE, Vit A&D, drench the cord, ear tag and weigh at the same time. Also cows are wormed twice a year.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[jerry27150]

what would be the point. they wouldn;t have any worms at that age

 

[abun]

to keep them from getting worms? how long would it take for calves to get worms?

 

[Alan]

what would be the point. they wouldn;t have any worms at that age

I've been told the the parasites will travel through teh placenta and into the unborn calf, at any stage of the pregnagcy. So I wormed all of my cows 45 days before breeding and then again at 4 months or so pregnant (5 to 6 months later). I am under the impression the cows will have some parasites at the time of delivery, therefore the calves will have some parasites.....

Am I wrong?
Alan

 

[KNERSIE]

The parasite affecting young calves most is milk tapeworm. I'd rather start when the calves are 6 weeks old and treat for that with a suitable oral drench every 6 weeks till weaning. Typically those products will also treat your hair, wire and hookworms.

 

[jerry27150]

i never heard of calves being born wormy. they will get them after they start eating grass. if you keep a calf completely from ever getting worms they will never develop any immunity to them. i have seen bulls from test stations that were raised worm free & on grain diet that will about die when put on pasture with cows.

 

[TexasBred]

Alan I know that's true with dogs and cats so certainly possible with calves. Wormer is rather mild so I doubt a calf would ever know you gave it to him.

 

[farmwriter]

Just thinking out loud here, but if the brood cows are on a good worming schedule, shouldn't their parasite load be minimal, meaning very few parasites would be there to pass on to the calves?

 

[TexasBred]

Just thinking out loud here, but if the brood cows are on a good worming schedule, shouldn't their parasite load be minimal, meaning very few parasites would be there to pass on to the calves?

It makes sense that the parasite load in the brood cow would be minimal, but a lot of folks have no real worming routine if any at all. The placenta is not only a lifeline but sometimes also a "sewer line" for many problems.

 

[SixBucksADay]

I have never heard of a parasite traveling through the placenta. Does someone know of an exception? We operate in the NW. I'm sure the south has different conditions. Every parasite I can think of requires a larval stage. In general eggs are passed in the feces by an infected animal onto the pasture, the eggs hatch in larvae (nits), the larvae have a relatively short life span and will travel up blades of grass when there is moisture (dew). They retreat when the dew or moisture starts to dissipate. If an animal comes along, nips off the grass and consumes the nit, the larvae survives in the gut and matures to a worm. Calves consume mostly milk. Their exposure is minimal. I doubt it is cost effective to worm until the calf is at least 6 - 8 weeks old. The first worming we give is at weaning. I know some who worm at branding. We have tried worming at three months as an experiment. We found no differences in our calves weight gains. Location and mngt styles vary greatly, so what we have experienced might not work for all.

 

[Lucky_P]

There's no good reason to deworm a newborn calf, unless you've had hookworm(Bunostomum spp.) infection diagnosed in the herd - that parasite(hookworm) can cross the placenta and infect the calf in utero - but in over 30 years of veterinary practice and diagnostics in the Southeast and Midwest, I've never seen a case of hookworm infection in cattle of any age. YMMV.

I don't know what the 'milk tapeworm' knersie referred to is, but the tapeworms that we see in cattle, Moniezia species, rarely cause any significant disease or decrease in growth/rate of gain. Calves only become infected with Moniezia tapeworms when they ingest the little free-living mites that serve as the intermediate host for the tapeworm when grazing.
The same largely holds true for most of the other economically-significant nematode parasites - cattle become infected primarily by ingesting infective larvae on the forages growing in the pastures.

Time of year(strategic deworming) is probably of greater concern, with regard to effectiveness, than is the age of the calf.

 

[farmwriter]

YMMV ?

 

[ga. prime]

:lol2: Your mileage may vary. Lucky_ P is a smart cookie. Excellent post Lucky_P.

 

[farmwriter]

Gotcha. Agreed, good post. Way to put the slop down where the hogs can get to it. ;-)

 

[CowGirl005]

Yes parasites can travel from the mother through the placenta into the newborns. It is very common and even if the cows do have a very minimal parasite load, the calves can still get them. I am not sure about deworming them at 24 hours old. I know in cats and dogs we do not deworm them (with an oral dewormer) at that age since they do not absorb it very well, since they are only on momma's milk. I am not too sure about injectable dewormers and how well they really work at that age.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I would listen to Lucky_P - he is/was a vet and I have decided I trust what he says through other posts. Dogs & cats may have different worms that may pass thru to the embryo.
We have raised calves (c/c operation) for 40 years. People think we are pretty agressive because we deworm mid-summer (about 4 months of age) and again a month later, and again after weaning before 11-5 (last date for our area for grub treatment).