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Management of pasture parasites - Web-based decision trees: Forward planning of pasture management in ruminants to reduce exposure with gastrointestinal worms and to reduce use of veterinary drugs
Project
Project code: 2813MDT020
Contract period: 01.01.2014
- 31.03.2018
Budget: 346,291 Euro
Purpose of research: Demonstration
Pasture husbandry is considered to be particularly animal appropriate and is, according to polls, desired by consumers. However younger animals in particular are often afflicted with infections by gastrointestinal parasites while at pasture. Previously developed decision trees available online could be an aid in future-oriented pasture planning. How do farms perceive the work with this online tool? Can it provide support in pasture management to individual farms? Does it reduce the stress on the animals or does the use of the decision tree lead to less use of anthelmintics? These questions are addressed in a model and demonstration project of the Thünen Institute for Organic Farming carried out in 80 farms in cooperation with six consultancy organizations. Controlling gastrointestinal worms is crucial to any pasture system for ruminants. To support the farmer's foresighted planning of pasture management and avoid excessive deworming four decision trees are created and put online. They are accessible free by www.weide-parasiten.de. There is one decision tree for young cattle in intensive dairy husbandry and young cattle in suckling-cow management as well as one decision tree for economically kept sheep and goats, respectively. To support the implementation a consulting project is started. 80 farms distributed all over Germany get additional information from theirs consulting bodies about preventive parasite control by pasture management and the use of web-based decision trees. The acceptance and the sustainable success of those measures get evaluated scientifically.
Parasite infestation is often a problem in the practice of pasture management of ruminants. If the animals are kept at pasture, they are commonly dewormed routinely without prior use of fecal analysis. The preventative deworming is to reduce the danger of infection with pasture parasites. In order to make a preventatively oriented field parasite management possible, in 2007 the University of Utrecht and in 2012 the Thuenen Institute released web-based decision trees to communicate future oriented pasture planning to prevent and fight gastrointestinal worms. The goal of the project was to establish the online tool for ruminants in agricultural practice. The decision trees were introduced in 79 farms keeping suckler cows, dairy cows, sheep or goats and accompanied for two project years by consultants. In the third project year the farms used the decision trees independently without explicit advice. Most of the participating farmers found the decisions trees easy to use. The questions on pasture management were phrased clearly and the recommendations were understandable. The livestock farmers were intensively involved with the topic throughout the project. Many understood the necessity to carry out fecal examination and/or to change the pasture management. The implementation of the recommendations of the decision trees was much better in the years with consultancy support on the farms than in those without visits of the advisors. After initial difficulties with composite fecal sampling on pastures, these were carried out successfully, above all in the sheep and goat farms. The deworming was nonetheless as a rule practiced routinely and not always according the test results. Here more information must be communicated from the farm consultants and the veterinarians to the farmer about all the dangers of resistance development and environmental impacts.
Section overview
Subjects
- Animal Husbandry
- Animal health
