An outbreak of lungworms in lightweight stocker calves

In January 1997, a cattle rancher in central Texas asked the Field Services Section of the Department of Large Animal Medicine and Surgery at Texas A&M University to investigate the cause of respiratory disease in a group of mixed-breed, beef stocker heifers. The chief complaint was nonresponsive respiratory disease and excessive loss from death in a group of 207 lightweight stocker heifers. After visiting the ranch several times, we diagnosed the primary problem of outbreak of lungworms and determined that unusual weather conditions had contributed to its severity. We also believed that gastrointestinal parasites represented a significant problem on the ranch. Several key points gained from our investigation included the need for practitioners to consider lungworms when dealing with nonresponsive pneumonia in calves and the need for ranchers to practice strategic deworming programs to control lungworms.

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