Targeted flock/herd and individual ruminant treatment approaches

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Parasitology
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Livestock Management

Background:

• Nematode infections (nematodoses) in European livestock often cause subclinical effects, impacting production.
• Anthelmintic resistance is a growing concern, particularly in small ruminants.
• The EU-funded PARASOL project aimed to develop sustainable, low-input parasite control strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate refugia-based strategies for optimizing anthelmintic treatments in ruminants.
• To identify effective indicators for targeted treatments (TT) and targeted selected treatments (TST).
• To assess the impact of these strategies on parasite resistance and production efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Assessed indicators like fecal egg count (FEC), liveweight gain, body condition score, and diarrhea score in small ruminants.
• Utilized bulk milk tank ELISA and serum pepsinogen levels for cattle.
• Compared the efficacy of TT and TST against routine anthelmintic treatments.

Main Results:

• Monitoring FEC is valuable for whole-flock treatments in small ruminants.
• Bulk milk tank ELISA and pepsinogen assays can inform future anthelmintic use in cattle.
• TST approaches in sheep and goats maintained performance and parasite susceptibility, selecting less for resistance than monthly treatments.

Conclusions:

• Refugia-based strategies, including TT and TST, offer sustainable nematode control in livestock.
• Further research is needed to optimize treatment markers.
• Adoption of these strategies by producers is crucial for maintaining anthelmintic susceptibility and sustainable parasite management.