Agricultural News
Poorly Executed Deworming in Your Beef Herd Can Hurt Your Bottom Line-
Thu, 12 May 2016 05:48:42 CDT
For a beef cattle producer, the reality is that parasites are a concern from the day that beef cow or stocker takes their first bite of grass to the day that they take their last bite of grass. Dr. Harold Newcomb, Technical Services Manager for Merck Animal Health, believes that a priority rightly needs to be placed on effective control of parasites because "they are not just hurting us in weight gains- they can actually affect things like conception rates in a cow herd, grazing weight gains on stocker calves as well as affect that animal's ability to respond to certain diseases- they can actually impact the immune system."
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays talked with Dr. Newcomb about the development of a strategy by beef cattle producers to best manage parasites in their herds. Dr. Newcomb believes that producers should consider multiple treatments- one at the beginning of the grazing season- then a second treatment six to eight weeks would follow after cattle have been grazing which "allows those cattle to go out and harvest those parasites off the pasture- and right before they ready to make a turn and start producing eggs- you go in and deworm them and we kill off those worms so we have actually lowered the parasite burden on the pasture." Dr. Newcomb says that will make it easier for the cattle producer to manage parasites in his pastures if he is able to reduce overall parasite numbers on his ranch.
Dr. Newcomb also talks with Hays about the advantages of a Concurrent treatment strategy- and they also talk about the role that a Veternarian should be playing in the health management of today's Beef Cattle herd.
You can hear their full conversation in this special Beef Buzz. You can also learn more about the Concurrent Treatment Concept from an article that Dr. Newcomb wrote by clicking here.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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