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
| 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) |
- 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.