Controlling coccidiosis video 8
What is coccidiosis?
Coccidiosis is a small protozoan parasite with many different species. There are only a couple of these species which affect lambs and calves.
Again these species are specific to both lambs and calves. They infect animals and cause damage to the lower intestine. It is important to remember that the symptoms and the disease itself takes a number of weeks to develop.
While E.Albemenisis can infect calves after 2 weeks we rarely see coccidiosis in lambs or calves before 3-4 weeks and certainly not under 2 weeks of age.
Animals will develop immunity to coccidiosis, this immunity is species-specific however. Typically by 16-18 weeks young calves and lambs can develop immunity.
Remember though colostrum is still important.
The lifecycle will take a number of weeks, however when we do see clinical signs we can expect many animals are clinically affected and even more subclinically.
Where is the source of these parasites?
Adult animals will carry and shed small numbers of these parasites in their dung. This begins the cycle in young animals but also these oocysts can survive year to year in the environment particularly housing.
These oocysts are the initial source with calves and lambs ingesting these and producing millions more. The main source then becomes the young infected animals. It is also important to remember that older healthy calves/lambs can spread oocysts to younger calves and lambs.
What are the symptoms?
The coccidia oocysts will get into the intestinal cells of the lower gut. When they replicate and reproduce they damage these cells leading to a lot of inflammation.
This can lead to bloody diarrhoea and straining. Not all infected animals will show these symptoms but still can impact thrive.
So when we see coccidiosis and confirm it using faecal testing and symptoms. We can expect other animals in the group are also infected.
Treatment options
There are two main products used to treat animals with coccidiosis. Toltuzuril and diclazuril can be used, talk to your vet around which is the best choice.
We need to use supportive therapy like fluids on these calves. While some people use sulphonamides to prevent secondary infections due to coccidiosis infections.
It may be worth getting a sample to check which species is active on your farm. We also want to rule out other issues like nemadtodirus (worm) in lambs after turnout.
Remember not every case of ill thrift at pasture in calves is coccidiosis with increased issues like summer scour syndrome this needs to be ruled out as well.
Control
There are two elements in the control of coccidiosis
- Hygiene and reducing down exposure to coccidia oocysts in young calves and lambs
- Prophylactic use of products to reduce the build-up of oocysts or infection pressure
Watch the VIDEO above on some key risk areas to look at when controlling coccidiosis
Cleaning sheds between seasons is really important.
- We must do a deep clean to remove faeces from the shed. Using a power hose day 1 remove all faecal material. Take a look at your sheds and see how easy they are to clean.
One farm we used a thick floor paint on the walls to make them easier to clean down.
- Day two look at using a steam cleaner as these oocysts are very prone to high heat. This will be a great second line of defence to reduce down the spread. This may seem extreme but these protocols reduce down the risk year to year.
- Day 3 soak all the shed surfaces in an appropriate disinfectant solution that kills the oocysts like coxicur
- Finally allow the shed to lie dormant and dry out. This really is a good job to do mid-summer when sheds are idle and the weather is warm.
Outdoors we get a lot of issues with coccidiosis and we still must try and reduce down infection pressure. Any areas where lambs or calves congregate can be problematic like feeders or drinkers. Move creep feeders regularly.
A key part of a good control program involves using coccidiostats before clinical symptoms appear. These will reduce down shedding (infection pressure) and also allow animals time to develop immunity.
I have found every farm slightly different around the best time for this dosing. Talk to your vet about your risk and when symptoms appear. The timing of doses should be done in advance of this risk period.
If we dose animals too early we may find ourselves going back in again. Toltuzuril also has a slightly longer persistency than diclazuril.
Farms using regular dosing alone to control the disease need to step back and look at hygiene as well.
Outdoors in lambs and calves moving things like creep feeders regularly can help and also avoid mucky areas like leaking water troughs.
Certain fields may also be high risk because of yearly build-up and sometimes strategies at turnout need to be looked at to reduce down infection pressure
Thought for the day
I think these thoughts for the day for are for myself more than anyone. There is huge value in planning. It provides short term structure and also on-farm can make a huge difference.
So proper planning prevents poor performance.
If people feel I can help them in any way my email is info@tommythevet.ie
Big thanks to Nettex for their support in helping me make #50in50 happen http://www.progiene-dairy.com/
Happy safe farming