Full text

Turn on search term navigation

© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Simple Summary

Cattle parasites live inside or on the body of beef cattle. The most common beef parasites include intestinal roundworms, flatworms and ticks. The act of parasitizing cattle reduces the health of the animals and reduces the economic value to the farmer through reduced body weight, milk production, coat and hide quality and ability to give birth to healthy calves. As a result, beef cattle producers lose billions of dollars in the value of their herds each year due to parasitism. Preventing and treating parasites is an important step in increasing the farmers’ ability to raise healthy beef cattle, make a profit and meet the world’s need for sustainable protein and other cattle products.

Abstract

Global human population growth requires the consumption of more meat such as beef to meet human needs for protein intake. Cattle parasites are a constant and serious threat to the development of the beef cattle industry. Studies have shown that parasites not only reduce the performance of beef cattle, but also negatively affect the profitability of beef agriculture and have many other impacts, including contributing to the production of greenhouse gases. In addition, some zoonotic parasitic diseases may also threaten human health. Therefore, ongoing cattle parasite research is crucial for continual parasite control and the development of the beef cattle industry. Parasitism challenges profitable beef production by reducing feed efficiency, immune function, reproductive efficiency, liveweight, milk yield, calf yield and carcass weight, and leads to liver condemnations and disease transmission. Globally, beef cattle producers incur billions (US$) in losses due to parasitism annually, with gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) and cattle ticks causing the greatest economic impact. The enormity of losses justifies parasitic control measures to protect profits and improve animal welfare. Geographical differences in production environment, management practices, climate, cattle age and genotype, parasite epidemiology and susceptibility to chemotherapies necessitate control methods customized for each farm. Appropriate use of anthelmintics, endectocides and acaricides have widely been shown to result in net positive return on investment. Implementing strategic parasite control measures, with thorough knowledge of parasite risk, prevalence, parasiticide resistance profiles and prices can result in positive economic returns for beef cattle farmers in all sectors.

Details

Title
The Economic Impact of Parasitism from Nematodes, Trematodes and Ticks on Beef Cattle Production
Author
Strydom, Tom 1 ; Lavan, Robert P 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Torres, Siddhartha 3 ; Heaney, Kathleen 4 

 MSD Animal Health, 20 Spartan Road, Isando, Kempton Park 1619, South Africa; [email protected] 
 Merck & Co., Inc., 126 E. Lincoln Avenue, Rahway, NJ 07065, USA 
 Merck Animal Health, 2 Giralda Farms, Madison, NJ 07940, USA; [email protected] (S.T.); [email protected] (K.H.) 
 Merck Animal Health, 2 Giralda Farms, Madison, NJ 07940, USA; [email protected] (S.T.); [email protected] (K.H.); Heaney Veterinary Consulting, 303 Fletcher Lake Avenue, Bradley Beach, NJ 07720, USA 
First page
1599
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20762615
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2819263705
Copyright
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.