Table 3.

COWS guidelines (more details see: www.cattleparasites.org.uk).

Guideline	Comment by Taylor (42)
Work out a control strategy with your veterinarian or advisor.	Specialist consultation as part of herd health planning is an increasing requirement on farms. Worm control programmes for cattle will require on-going consultations.
Use effective quarantine strategies to prevent the importation of resistant worms in introduced cattle.	Bought in cattle can be a potential route of introducing resistance alleles into a non-closed herd
Test for anthelmintic efficacy on your farm	Whilst resistance is still rare in cattle nematodes, treatment failures do occur. It is important to monitor continued efficacy as under dosing can select for AR
Administer anthelmintic drugs effectively	Administer the right dose in the correct way by following manufacturer's instructions
Use anthelmintic drugs only when necessary	Understand the trade-off between tolerating some level of parasitism and minimizing selection for AR. FEC monitoring has an important role
Select the appropriate anthelmintic for the task	Target treatment according to parasites (and their stages) present, based on time of year
Adopt strategies to preserve susceptible worms on the farm	Aim to reduce selection for AR when treating adult cattle, immune older animals or when dosing on low contamination pastures
Reduce dependence on anthelmintic drugs	Alternative control measures include grazing management using sheep or older immune animals

Table adopted from Taylor (42) p. 67.