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Table 3 Hepatic enzymes*, strongyle egg counts and prevalence of liver and rumen fluke infection in suckler beef cows and heifers on 12 Irish suckler beef farms

From: Disease screening profiles and colostrum management practices on 16 Irish suckler beef farms

Herd ID

Sampling month

Location

No. cows and heifers sampled

AST** 1 (U/L)

GGT** 2 (U/L)

GLDH** 3 (U/L)

Mean strongyle egg count**

No. animals liver fluke + ve per farm (%) 4

No. animals rumen fluke + ve per farm (%) 4

1

November

South-west

20

101 (17.4)

31 (40.9)

23 (30.5)

18 (29.4)

6 (30.0)

10 (50.0)

2

November

South-east

16

100 (25.2)

30 (33.2)

15 (14.3)

9 (20.2)

11 (68.8)

5 (31.3)

3

November

North-east

13

71 (25.4)

23 (5.1)

9 (5.9)

0 (0.0)

2 (15.4)

3 (23.1)

4

November

North-east

12

80 (17.6)

28 (14.0)

9 (6.6)

17 (32.6)

4 (33.3)

1 (8.3)

5

November

West

16

98 (28.5)

40 (37.0)

20 (16.3)

3 (12.5)

5 (31.3)

3 (18.8)

6

November

North-west

16

96 (21.7)

26 (21.9)

16 (12.1)

7 (25.8)

6 (37.5)

1 (6.3)

7

November

North-west

12

-

-

-

4 (14.4)

8 (66.7)

6 (50.0)

8

December

South-east

16

80 (23.2)

20 (7.0)

11 (8.7)

3 (12.5)

4 (25.0)

0 (0.0)

9

December

South-east

16

79 (10.4)

14 (7.6)

11 (6.3)

6 (17.1)

11 (68.8)

5 (31.3)

10

December

South-east

11

93 (34.6)

22 (10.0)

13 (16.0)

5 (15.1)

5 (45.5)

1 (9.1)

11

December

Midlands

12

67 (8.4)

14 (5.9)

6 (3.0)

13 (31.1)

4 (33.3)

0 (0.0)

12

January

Midlands

9

81 (13.0)

20 (6.7)

9 (3.5)

22 (36.3)

2 (22.2)

0 (0.0)

Overall

November-January

All farms

169

-

-

-

9 (22.6)

68 (40.2)

35 (20.7)

  1. - Values not available. *aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH), **values expressed as arithmetic mean (s.d.). 1AST normal range (78–132 U/L), 2GGT normal range (6.1-17.4 U/L) and 3GLDH normal range (<31 U/L) [26]. 4Individual faecal samples were examined for fluke eggs using a sedimentation technique and based on their morphological characteristics were classified as either liver or rumen fluke eggs.