5 Reasons Why Deworming is important for your cattle

Livestock sector plays an important role in the national economy and socio-economic development of the country. It is emerging as an important growth engine of the Indian economy and its share in the gross domestic product has gradually risen.

A significant obstacle for the growth in terms of production from livestock and poultry is the prevalence of diseases of economic importance as these cause huge economic losses nationally.

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The mandate of the ‘Livestock Health’ Division in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

Through the ‘Livestock Health & Disease Control’ scheme, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched by DADF in August 2010, efforts are made towards prevention, control, and containment of animal diseases of economic importance e.g., Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), Brucellosis, Anthrax, Haemorrhagic Septicaemia (HS), Black Quarter (BQ), Classical Swine Fever, New Castle Disease (Ranikhet), Avian Influenza (AI), etc. DADF also provides financial assistance to Animal Health Institutions under a Central Sector scheme.

What Is Deworming?

Deworming (sometimes known as worming, drenching or dehelmintization) is the giving of an anthelmintic drug (a wormer, dewormer, or drench) to a human or animal to rid them of helminths parasites, such as roundworm, flukes, and tapeworm. Purge dewormers for use in livestock can be formulated as a feed supplement that is eaten, a paste or gel that is deposited at the back of the animal's mouth, a liquid drench given orally, an injectable, or as a pour-on which can be applied to the animal's topline.

5 Reasons why Deworming is important for your cattle?

Due to fluctuating environments and climate, cattle go through various health issues. However, worm infestation is a hidden disease that is prevalent in cattle all around the world. Until and unless the growth of the worm doesn’t come to the advanced stage and shows outward signs, it is quite difficult to detect the presence of worms. It is suggested that if you are a dairy farmer, don’t wait for worms to have complete control over your cattle’s health. You better take precautionary measures by doing regular deworming of your cattle and keeping the worms at bay. Deworming helps to keep your livestock healthy and ultimately supports your dairy farming business to flourish.

To curb Adverse Effects of Worms on Dairy Cattle

Tapeworms, flukes, roundworms, and other internal parasites leave hazardous effects of cattle’s overall health. Being a responsible dairy farmer or animal parent, you should keep an eye on below signs or effects of worms on your dairy cattle and reach out to the veterinarian immediately.

Reluctance toward deworming can result in Poor Health

Cattle with worm infection tend to be in weak physical condition. They become thin and poor in appearance. Their coat becomes unhealthy and dull. Even after providing a good amount of feed the infected cattle look poor because the feed gets consumed by worms and doesn’t benefit the cow.

Missing Deworming Lead to Low Productivity

The intestinal worms feed off your cattle’s bodies and throw the nutrients out of the animal’s body. As cattle don’t get proper nutrition, it effects on their capability of producing milk and calves. In the past, if your cows have produced plenty of milk and healthy calves, you must check for worm infection problems.

Prone to Anaemia

The intestinal parasites, including ticks and worms, suck cattle’s blood and cause them Anaemia. If your cow shows signs like lack of appetite, lethargy, pale gums, and difficulty in breathing.

Not Deworming may cause Deadly Diarrhoea

This is the most common problem for cattle with a worm’s face. Due to diarrhea, in some cases cows feel dehydrated as well as consumption and digestion of feed become challenging for them.

As a dairy farmer, keeping cattle in good health must be important for you because only healthy cattle produce a good amount of milk and help you to develop your dairy business. Make sure you deworm your cows regularly and at the right time of the year. Below, we are sharing the deworming schedule with you. Follow this schedule and protect cows from worms.

From the above information the key take ways are:

• Worm infestation is one invisible disease that is prevalent in cattle all around the world. It is extremely difficult to detect a worm infestation unless it has reached an advanced stage - by which time it could have already caused severe damage.

• The spreading of worms inside the animal leads to the poor growth rate of cattle. It can also lead to diarrhea, delayed maturity, weakness and may lead to death in severe cases.

• It is important to take precautionary measures to control the spreading of worms inside an animal. Controlling the spread of worms would help prevent a reduction in the production capacity of the animal.

• Deworming cattle helps to keep your livestock healthy and the dairy farm to flourish.

• It is economically important to deworm adult cattle twice a year – once before monsoon season and once during monsoon season to improve production and reproduction.

• The deworming schedule is more important in buffalo calves in which worm problem is a major cause of calf mortality.

• Common Dewormers used are – Felbendazole, Oxfelbendazole, Albendazole, Ivermectin, Piperazine.

• Out of these, Felbendazole & Oxfelbendazole are safe to be used during pregnancy

• To avoid drug resistance, the same drug should not be administered repeatedly. The Dewormers should be changed each time. User should not give the same Dewormer in succession.

DEWORMING SCHEDULE IN CATTLE: