Deworming Cattle and Buffaloes: When, How and Why Rotation Matters

Internal parasites — roundworms, tapeworms and liver flukes — quietly steal feed from your animals. Heavily infested animals grow slowly, give less milk, have poorer fertility and are more likely to get sick. Calves and young stock suffer most, and buffalo calves in particular can die from heavy roundworm infection in their first weeks.

Which animals need it most

• Calves, especially buffalo calves, in the first months of life.
• Young stock (heifers) grazing pasture or eating cut fodder from wet fields.
• Adults in areas with canals, flooded fields or standing water, where liver fluke is common.

Adult dairy animals kept indoors on clean feed often carry low burdens and may need treatment less often than young stock.

A typical plan (adapt with your veterinarian)

• Buffalo calves: many vets advise a first dose in the first weeks of life against roundworm, repeated as recommended for the product.
• Calves and young stock: treat at intervals during the first year, guided by dung tests.
• Before and after the monsoon: a common time to treat grazing animals, because wet conditions increase parasite spread.
• Liver fluke: treat in fluke areas with a product that actually covers fluke — not every dewormer does.

Test before you treat

A dung (faecal) egg count at a veterinary laboratory shows which parasites are present and how heavy the burden is. Testing a few animals from each group before treatment, and again 10–14 days after, tells you whether the dewormer is working.

Avoid resistance

Worms become resistant when the same drug is used too often or under-dosed. To keep dewormers effective:

1. Dose by actual weight — guessing low is the most common mistake. Use a weigh tape if you have no scale.
2. Do not treat every animal every month "just in case".
3. Rotate drug classes yearly, not every dose, on your vet's advice.
4. Keep new animals separate and treat them before mixing.

Reduce re-infection

• Keep feeding troughs off the ground and free of dung.
• Do not cut fodder from waterlogged areas around sheds.
• Clean calf pens regularly and keep bedding dry.

Record every treatment — date, product, dose and animal — so you know when the next one is due and can see whether the plan is working.