Reducing parasites in your beef herd can improve herd performance and boost your operation’s bottom line.

Parasites negatively impact your beef herd’s performance, affecting production cycle, feed conversion, immune response, milk production, and reproductive efficiency. Reducing parasites in the herd can improve your herd’s performance and improve your operation’s bottom line. A South Florida Beef-Forage Program Article of the Month offers insights and tips into reducing parasite loads in your herd. See the details below.

Reducing Parasites in the Beef Herd

According to the article, a “2007 Iowa State University study documented a loss of $207 per cow-calf pair annually due to roundworms and flatworms alone.” Reducing parasites can reduce that loss by improving herd health and performance. Insights and tips from the article include:

Nursing Calves. “Deworming at earlier stages of infection can result in improved weaning weights. Reducing the calf parasite load should increase subsequent weaning weights by 10 to 20 pounds per calf.”

Breeding Cows. “Deworming the breeding cow herd can add more pounds to weaned calves, as milk production increases by 2 to 5 pounds per head per day. Deworming cows can also increase reproductive performance.”

  • “Properly rotating and resting pastures, or utilizing the correct types of dewormers can go a long way in reducing parasite loads” and breaking parasites’ life cycles.
  • “Underdosing cattle results in reduced efficacy of the dewormer and increases resistance, while overdosing is an expensive waste of product.”
  • “Estimating the weight and/or relying on the average weights as the animal comes through the chute is a risky method for administering a product that can be expensive and has such a critical purpose in the production management system.”

Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.