Since 2016, Animal Health Ireland has been running its Beef HealthCheck programme which includes monitoring liver fluke, liver abscesses and pneumonia damage in cattle at the point of slaughter in participating abattoirs.

Using the data collected from this programme, a study was conducted to assess the cost of liver fluke to Irish farmers. In steers alone the study found that animals that had liver fluke or previously had liver fluke damage were 36kg lighter at the point of slaughter compared to animals that showed no signs of having liver fluke. The study estimated this to be a cost of €77/animal.

Knowing the status of your herd can help farmers to minimise the cost and potential losses liver fluke can cause at farm level.

This liver and lung information is reported back to farmers. This is usually sent along with the remittance of the slaughtered animals. However, the below video outlines how this information can also be accessed through the ICBF website.