Shedding and characterization of gastrointestinal nematodes of growing beef heifers in Central Texas

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) do not detrimentally affect cattle to the extent of small ruminants. However, they are developing resistance to drugs used to treat them. Genetic strategies to control the nematodes and/or their detrimental effects could be a sustainable alternative to treatment with drugs. An essential first step in development of such a strategy is characterization of nematode populations in commonly used breed types of cattle in local conditions. Fecal egg counts (FEC) were obtained every two months on a cohort of 53 crossbred Nellore-Angus heifers grazing Central Texas pastures from an average heifer age of 3 months to approximately 2 years of age. For 10 of those 12 sets of samples, coprocultures were set up to characterize gastrointestinal nematode species present. Heifers were ½ Nellore ½ Angus (n = 18) or ¾ Angus ¼ Nellore (n = 35). They were born in the spring of 2014 to cows that were from 3–5 years old. They were maintained as a group throughout weaning, postweaning, exposure to bulls as yearlings, and as pregnant cows through the birth of their first calves. An interaction of breed group with sampling time (P < 0.0001) highlighted favorable FEC of ¼ Nellore heifers as compared to ½ Nellore in all but two sampling times. Fecal egg count means were, in general, higher for heifers of both groups in sampling times up to one year of age. Season effects on FEC may be important, but the effect of age may have obscured their detection. There were few significant correlation coefficients for FEC traits with a variety of production traits of these females. Average FEC residuals were positively correlated (r = 0.28 and 0.41; P < 0.05) with winter coat shedding score evaluated at approximately 17 and 24 months of age. Residual correlations of average FEC with calf weaning weight and incidence of shedding with calf age at weaning (r> 0.3) may be indicative of the increased susceptibility of females that lactate heavily or longer to internal parasite infection. Proportions of GIN genera by sampling day differed from [Formula: see text] expectation (P < 0.0001). Cooperia and Haemonchus species were detected in large proportions in sampling dates that corresponded to heifers less than one year of age. Ostertagia and Trichostrongylus species predominated in sampling dates after heifers reached one year of age.