The gold standard for parasite detection is a post-slaughter veterinary inspection, and our farmers who have finished cattle recently have paid close attention to their Animal Health Ireland HealthCheck reports, which score lungs, livers and rumens based on parasite presence/severity. Results here can give clues as to what potential parasites we need to think about in the rest of our animals.
Liver fluke
Faecal egg counts are the most effective tools for detecting parasite in the live animal. However, as a diagnosis tool, the test isn’t rock solid.
In the case of liver fluke, it takes six to eight weeks for the parasite to complete its life cycle and start producing eggs that are detectable in the animal’s dung.
Rumen fluke eggs won’t appear in the dung until 12 weeks after the animal comes in contact with the fluke.
Thankfully, the 27 BETTER farms’ faecal samples showed a relatively clean bill of health. Some of the positive results and actions to be taken are outlined below.