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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine today issued advice to farmers in relation to liver fluke in livestock based on advice received from the Liver Fluke Advisory Group.

A liver fluke disease-forecasting model based on weather conditions during summer and autumn predicts that the risk of liver fluke is high in all areas of the country except for the east and southeast where the risk is moderate. The higher than normal rainfall in June and September have provided conditions suitable for the propagation of the snail intermediate host and the production of the infective stage of the parasite.

The Advisory Group has advised that farmers should treat cattle and sheep as follows:

Where cattle are routinely housed on farms in late autumn, the timing of the administration of the fluke dose after the animals are brought in for the winter will depend on the type of flukicide used. However, on farms where cattle are kept outdoors on pasture for the winter, treatment should be carried out immediately and these animals may also need a further treatment in the New Year. Treatment of dairy cows for liver fluke is best carried out after drying off and not during lactation. As regards sheep, the advice is that they should be dosed now especially on those farms with a history of liver fluke disease. In general, further treatments, usually in January and April, are necessary for sheep that are out-wintered.

All bought-in cattle and sheep should be kept isolated and dosed sequentially with a combination of two anthelmintics with different modes of action e.g. a macrocyclic lactone and levamisole or monepantal and a flukicide before being allowed to join the main herd or flock. The Advisory Group also advises that farmers should submit faecal samples from a representative number of treated animals (not less than 10) to the Department’s local Regional Veterinary Laboratories at least three weeks post treatment to ensure efficacy of the flukicide used. Faecal samples should also be collected from a representative number of animals (circa 10) 12 days after dosing and submitted to a laboratory to determine the efficacy of the bowel worm treatment.

The Department indicated that the information presented above is based on a disease forecast model that uses weather data collected during the summer and autumn at Met Éireann weather stations across the country.