Most of us know that parasites are a common problem in livestock and something we’ll have to contend with on a regular basis. However, the goal isn’t to necessarily rid all parasites from our animals, but to keep their numbers in check so that they don’t adversely affect overall health.
Here, we’ll list some of the most common internal parasites seen in livestock as well as the problems they can cause if your animal becomes overburdened with them.
Horses
Large red worms (Strongyles): This parasite is dangerous because it can eat through the gut wall and travel through blood vessels, causing internal bleeding and damage. Strongyles can cause weight loss, diarrhea, and impaction colic.
Small Redworms (Cyathostomes): The larvae hibernate in the gut wall during the winter and emerge in large numbers as adults in the spring. This can cause severe damage to the intestines, weight loss, diarrhea, and colic.
Roundworms (Ascarids): This large worm is especially dangerous to foals and young horses. The larvae move through the gut wall to the liver and then to the lungs. They are then coughed up and swallowed where they mature to egg laying adults inside the gut. Roundworms can cough, nasal discharge, weight loss, a pot-bellied appearance, and diarrhea.
Pinworms (Oxyuris): This worm can damage the bowel before laying eggs around the outside of the anus, causing intense itching and irritation.
Threadworms: Threadworms don’t tend to negatively impact adult horses, but transfer to newborn foals through the mare’s milk. This can lead to weakness, diarrhea, and slow growth rate, and anemia.
Tapeworms (Cestodes): This worm can grow up to 8 cm in length, with a width of 1.5 cm. Tapeworms cluster together at the junction between the small and large intestine and can cause digestive problems, poor body condition, and colic, which can be fatal.
Bots (Gastrophilus): Bot flies lay their eggs on the horse’s hair coat, where they are later ingested when the horse grooms itself. The eggs hatch in the horse’s mouth and migrate to the stomach. If left untreated, bots can cause inflammation in the mouth and throat, as well as ulceration in the stomach.
Cattle
Brown stomach worm (Ostertagia): This worm can affect calves and mature cattle, leading to reduced weight gain and growth rate, reduced reproductive health, diarrhea, reduced appetite, and a general dull appearance.
Lungworm (Dictyocaulus): Lungworms can cause occasional coughing to severe respiratory distress. High infestation can lead to reduced milk production, reduced fertility, and potentially death.
Sheep & Goats
Lungworms (Dictyocaulus spp. or Muellerius capillaris): Lungworms can also affect sheep and goats, causing coughing, respiratory problems, and reduced weight gain.
Stomach worms (Haemonchus contortus): One of the most common parasites in sheep and goats, signs of stomach worms include weight loss, poor wool growth, reduced milk production, diarrhea, anemia, and possibly death. Swelling in the lower jaw (“bottle jaw”) is also common.
Liver flukes (Fasciola hepatica): This parasite can cause jaundice, loss of appetite, ill thrift, sub-mandibular edema (“bottle jaw”), anemia, and possibly death (most commonly in sheep). Symptoms often develop slowly.
Wormguard for multi-species
The best treatment for internal parasites is prevention. Rotational grazing to avoid constant re-exposure and maintaining low stocking density are both important. Likewise, feeding WormGuard for all of the above species can prevent high parasite burdens. This is a completely all natural wormer that is 100% safe and effective against intestinal parasites. It kills parasites by using a mechanical method, not chemical.