Don’t get caught out by Cooperia
Cooperia may not have been considered a huge hindrance to cattle productivity a few years ago but the rising recognition of its real effects should prompt producers to get proactive to avoid getting caught out by Cooperia this season. Once thought to cause mainly mild disease, Cooperia can no longer conceal its true colours as recent studies reveal it to be one of the most common worms faced by producers, with rather costly consequences.1
Cooperia is common in calves during their first grazing season and is a cause of considerable production losses, with subclinical disease often going unnoticed.1 Historically, Cooperia has hidden behind its more prominent partner in crime, Ostertagia when it comes to parasitic gastroenteritis which is another reason it has sneaked its way out of the spotlight. It may once have been the case that Ostertagia was the one to watch but Cooperia’s increasing contribution to faecal egg counts, up from 40% to 70-90%, proves it to be more problematic than previously thought.2
Not only does Cooperia contribute to the severity of Ostertagia infections, it also goes solo to cause substantial digestive disruption in its own right leading to reduced live weight gain.1 Once ingested off the pasture, eggs can be shed in the faeces in as little as 15-18 days with cows that fail to rapidly develop immunity against Cooperia continuously shedding eggs and providing the potential for heavy pasture contamination throughout the summer months.
The key to keeping one step ahead of Cooperia is a combination of proper pasture management and strategic worming treatment. Producers should choose wisely by selecting an anthelmintic that is active against Cooperia and can be easily integrated into their herd health plan. Using a wormer such as Dectomax™ Pour-on for Cattle 5mg/ml (doramectin) that has 28 days activity against Cooperia as well as 35 days against Ostertagia helps producers get the best of both worlds when it comes to preventing parasitic gastroenteritis. Treatment with Dectomax™ will stop new contamination of pasture with infective eggs shed by older cattle, while allowing immunity of calves to develop throughout the season, as well as protecting grazing calves from heavy infections.
Producers can’t afford to take the passenger seat anymore when it comes to the increasing threat of Cooperia and should make sure they don’t get caught out by this often covert culprit this summer by being proactive about prevention.
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