Effective pasture management can play a pivotal role in maintaining the health of your cattle and ensuring long term productivity of your farm. One of the key challenges faced by farmers is managing worm burdens, which can impact animal health and growth rates. Implementing a few simple pasture management strategies, you can greatly reduce the risk of parasite infestation in your herd.
What is worm burden?
Worm burden is the amount of worms in a cows gut, this is determined by a balance between the animals immunity and factors like pasture. Most mature cattle have minor worm burden and don’t need routine treatment because they have built immunity over time. However some cows can develop signs of worm burden throughout the year and may require treatment.
What are the signs of worm burden in your herd?
Individual animals show different indicators of worm burden. In calves a mild worm burden can result in loss of appetite. Reduced feed intake results in slower growth rates and even weight loss. Other clinical signs of worm burden are scouring, soft fluid swelling under the jaw or anaemia which can be identified by the colour of the mucous membranes around the animals eye – pale tissue lining around the eyelid suggest a high worm burden.
Here are five practical steps to help reduce burden in your herd…
Herd size and stocking density
Less cattle per hectare reduces the need for cattle to graze close to feacal matter, where there is greater risk of ingesting parasite larvae.
Grazing style and how frequent you move cattle
Reduce over-grazing to lessen the quantity of worm larva ingested. By increasing the number of rotations in your grazing plan or strip grazing, you can reduce the likelihood of worms. Move cattle onto long grass frequently, the first 5 cm of grass from root up contains 80% of parasites.
Age based grazing
Implement a ‘leader follower’ approach to pasture management where possible. If you can rotate around paddocks, graze more susceptible calves ahead of older cattle. This allows the calves to graze the longer grass which is least-infected, while mature cattle can tolerate greater exposure to worms.
Regular testing
Regular Faecal Egg Count (FECs) tests can be a very useful way to assess the amount of larvae shed onto pasture.
Regular weighing of youngstock
Regularly weighing youngstock can help make identify and aid decision making on whether animals require a worm treatment or not.
How Herdwatch can help
1.Weight Insights by Herdwatch – Simply link your Weigh Head with the app and monitor whole herd performance. Look back at previous weights to make informed decisions on medicine usage and identify the top and bottom performers in your herd.
2.Medicine records made easy – Keep on top of all medicine purchases, treatments and inventory at the press of a button. See what animals are requiring frequent treatments, allowing you to make informed culling decisions.
3.Pasture management in your palm – Map your farm in the app, colour coordinate fields by crop, and assign field notes to record where stock has been grazing and when.