Farmers breed for worm resistance
A farmer collective breeding for parasite resistant genetics claim they are leading the pack as drench resistance becomes more prevalent and drench failure is reported NZ-wide.
But her academic knowledge means she has embraced with enthusiasm her role as Merial NZ’s technical product manager for new product SWITCH Fluke 10. It fits well with her particular interests in targeted anthelmintic treatments, anthelmintic resistance, liver fluke and emerging parasite diseases.
“This is the only product that has liver fluke treatment and roundworm treatment with a dual active (abamectin and levamisole),” Chase explains to Dairy News. “It is much better for reducing the chance of getting resistance and it treats for liver fluke and roundworm. You can use just one product.”
The roundworm Ostertagia is a major problem to New Zealand dairy cattle as are flukes which are about 2-3cm long and crawl through the bile ducts causing big issues.
“Liver fluke is ubiquitous in New Zealand but causes issues mostly where it is wet, including irrigated pasture” says Chase. “There are lots of products which have two actives in them for roundworm control but combining that with a flukicide is new. Most farmers would treat roundworms with a triple or dual active and then have to treat separately with another product for fluke.
“SWITCH Fluke 10 saves lots of time – you don’t have to inject or pour on another product at the same time, it saves labour as well. One person can do the same job. And you also just have to buy one product.”
The product went on the market this month after waiting for registration and is available only through veterinarians.
Liver fluke live in the liver of cattle, sheep and other animals such as rabbits and it is transferable to humans, though this rarely happens in New Zealand.
“It goes through a life cycle of the mud snail and there are three types of species in New Zealand it can go through,” Chase explains. When the eggs are passed in the animals’ dung they hatch out into larvae-type things, go into a mud snail, go through a cycle and come out again. Then they are eaten by the cows. The parasite is dependent on the life cycle of the snail.
“You tend to find you get a lot more fluke infection around summer time when the snails are more active so they produce more parasites onto the pasture. As it gets cold at this time of year, if you treat for liver fluke now with the right product, then obviously you will get rid of whatever the cattle have picked up in that period.
“With fluke there are lots of different products for treatment. It takes about three months to get to an adult fluke age in the liver, so if you treated them now with those products that only kill adult fluke you wouldn’t kill any of the fluke they picked up in the summer.
“With the triclabendazole in SWITCH Fluke 10, you can kill early immature fluke from two weeks of age.
“It is a good product to use in the autumn because you are killing off those early fluke so you don’t get the damage of them migrating through the liver and getting to adult stage. Obviously you don’t get any contamination on the pasture because they are not making it to adult fluke.”
Big buzz in academia
Abigail Chase came from a small farming community in rural England, close to the Welsh border.
She gained a first class honours degree in agriculture from the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh then in Glasgow where she completed her Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Science Degree with commendation.
A week after graduation Chase started work in Yorkshire for a large mixed veterinary practice treating all animals from reindeer to rhea and cattle to chameleons.
After two years in Yorkshire, Chase became a clinical scholar at the Scottish Centre for Animal Health and Food Production back at the University of Glasgow Veterinary School. She completed a three year PhD in targeted selective anthelmintic treatment in dairy calf heifers, and continued clinical and teaching work on the university farm.
