—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 18, 1973
14
Parasites - Hie Bug On Farm Income
by Gary Martin
Freeloading insects and worms
that reside in cattle and poultry
create a billion dollar loophole in
this country’s meat production
and farmers are fighting an
uphill battle just to hold their own
against these often unseen pests.
One test in Georgia showed
farmers there averaged $1,668 a
year in losses due to sickness and
death inflicted by parasites
among their animals. The U. S.
Department of Agriculture
estimates that parasites in farm
animals cost farmers in the
United States between $750
million and $1 billion a year
Much of the financial loss is
absorbed by the farmers and
ranchers themselves, but if they
are to remain in the business of
meat production, they must
realize a profit in spite of
parasites The logical result is a
higher cost for meat in the store
Because the farmer can not
demand a pay raise every time
he treats his animals for
parasites, it is difficult to tell
exactly how this factor affects
meat prices in the grocery store
But, according to a recent study
of the parasite problem by Sperry
New Holland, it nevertheless
remains a constant and major
operational expense for every
farmer and poultryman in the
country
Other costs in the war against
animal parasites are easier to
define The public pays millions
of dollars each year in taxes to
help control parasites on the
farm The U. S. Agricultural
Researcii Service has an annual
budget of $2.3 million with which
they operate four laboratories.
One is devoted to the study of tiny
blood parasites, another to sheep
and poultry parasites, the third to
worms in cattle and the fourth to
worms and trichina larvae in
swine.
In addition to research, the
government spends millions
more to contain and eradicate
diseases when severe outbreaks
threaten neighboring animals or
even the entire livestock in
dustry
An example of this is the
control of the dreaded exotic
Newcastle disease in poultry.
This disease, which can be
earned by insects, rats, birds or
even the wind and humans,
almost always ends in death to
the entire infected flock Exotic
Newcastle flared up in parts of
southern California last year.
Government veterinarians
immediately moved in Infected
flocks had to be destroyed, others
quarantined. Farmers received
indemnity from the government
when their flocks were destroyed.
It took months to bring the
disease under control, but
probably saved the nation’s
entire poultry industry.
Much of what the government
does to prevent and control
parasites in animals is done to
save that segment of agriculture
involved. But swift action against
some parasites also results in
stopping the spread of a disease
to humans.
Probably the best known
human disease carried by a
parasite by way of farm animals
is Rocky Mountain spotted fever
spread by ticks. In India the
bubonic plague is spread by the
rat flea. On animals, mange is
often contracted from mites.
Lice, fleas, and mites are the
common external parasites found
on swine and cattle. They are
-joined by a variety of tapeworms,
round worms, blowflies and
screwworms, some of which
actually raise their offspring in
the living flesh of the infected
animal.
While round worms, such as
are common in house pets, live in
the animal’s intestinal track,
some parasites, like protozoa,
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are very small and make
themselves at home in the blood.
Farm animals carrying
parasites almost always show it
They become thin, they scratch,
cough, and sometimes get a fever
or become violently ill. The
economic effect to the farmer is
even more noticeable. Pigs in
fected with round worms can
require an extra 100 pounds or
more of feed to reach market
weight, according to Dr. Charles
Dobbins Jr., head of the
University of Georgia, veterinary
staff.
Some meat packing plants
regularly condemn 40 to 50 per
cent of the livers they receive as
the result of stomach worm and
kidney worm damage, Dr.
Dobbins said.
The federal government last
year spent $193 million on
marketing and food inspection;
an expensive, taxpayer financed
buffer against the ever present
dangers of bad food reaching the
consumer
Researchers at Sperry New
Holland, the world’s largest
manufacturer of hay and forage
machines, say good nutrition in
animal diets can help fight off
parasites. The researchers en
courage farmers to have their
forage tested and adjust their
animals’ rations accordingly.
One method sometimes
recommended for keeping cattle
from overgrazing is green
feeding with the use of a crop
chopper. This machine cuts and
chops grass and other forage
crops which are then taken to the
barn and fed to cattle. This
eliminates the danger of cattle
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grazing on parasite infested
ground.
A University of Wisconsin
parasitologist, A. C. Todd,
reported that a recent nationwide
survey of the top hog producing
counties in the U. S. discovered
parasites in every herd studied.
Some specialists say about 80
per cent of all U. S. cat no harbor
(Continued On 1 Page 15)
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Gordonville
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Rheems