At this time of year, many farmers are organising their animal health plan and tackling resistant worms to cover their cattle over the autumn and winter months.

A big worry for farmers when cattle are coming into housing after spending a couple of months out at pasture, is treating and dosing for stomach and lungworms, sucking and biting lice or any pasture-based parasites.

When cattle are coming in for the winter months, farmers want to have a long period of cover, reduce their herd’s resistance, continue achieving good live weight gains and have an overall healthier herd.

Former Leinster and Ireland rugby player Sean O’Brien shared his thoughts of using Moxodex and Doramax Pour-On with his herd of cattle.

Tackling resistant worms

O’Brien runs a dairy calf to beef system on his farm, along with a finishing system and a suckler cow system.

O’Brien’s local Tullow vet, Arthur Donald spoke about the importance of having a herd health plan in place for the autumn and winter months.

Donald said that “as part of of the autumn and winter dosing plan, I recommend using Moxodex and Doramax Pour-On”.

O’Brien typically rears about 30-40 dairy calf to beef calves in which are all locally sourced and said that “about four to five weeks pre-housing, I’ll get a dose into them, to help with live weight gain and have less chance of pneumonia when they are in”.

“Cattle had a better appetite and better live weight gain” after using Doramax pre-housing dose, according to O’Brien.

The local vet, Donald, said that the product “affectively clears out all worms, including resistant worms and gives the lung a chance to heal if any lung damage from worms had occurred”.

“If it is given five weeks pre-housing, it will cover the winter dose and will allow for further worm dosing, it will cover you for biting and sucking lice and can be given at the same time as your pneumonia booster vaccine,” he added.

A persistent dose

O’Brien tries to finish 30-40 heifers every year from mid-October on, and said “it is important we don’t have a set-back with stomach or lungworms and keep that 1kg of live weight gain a day going to finish cattle under 18 months”.

Donald recommends Moxodex Pour-On to finish cattle under 18 months as “it is a persistent cover for stomach and lungworms and it has short withdrawal period of only 14 days”.

The former Irish rugby international also runs a suckler enterprise where he has a mixture of cattle consisting of mainly Belgian-Blue crosses, Limousin crosses, and Shorthorn crosses.

O’Brien mentioned that he mainly uses artificial insemination (AI) to first calvers and heifers, using primarily sexed semen, followed by running two stock bulls.

Whether it is sport or farming, O’Brien said that “you have to be able to adapt to change”, as he had to put in the suckler cows early this year due to the poor quality grass and poor weather conditions.

The Tullow vet said “because of the early housing, it was not possible to do a pre-housing dose”.

Donald continued: “However, Doramax Pour-On is still very effective at housing, as there is a different active ingredient and will clear out resistant worms and cover for sucking and biting lice for about five to seven weeks.”

O’Brien added that he is “now focused on my health plan and using Doramax and Moxodex Pour-On has given me a longer period of cover, has reduced resistance and has given me an overall healthier herd”.

Doramax Pour-On is for treatment of infestations of gastrointestinal roundworms; lungworms; eyeworms; warbles; sucking and biting lice; mange mites and hornfly in cattle and has proved very effective for the rugby legend.

Moxodex Pour-On contains moxidectin, and has long persistency after use, which was proved with O’Brien’s cattle, affording his animals more protection against pasture-based parasites like lungworms and stomach worms.