But, he added, a rethink on worm control plans would be needed in order to take full advantage of this.

“The earlier the turn-out, the longer the period spent on pastures carrying over-wintered worm eggs before clean silage aftermaths become available for grazing,” he said.

“Because grazed grass has a much lower cost than making silage, there is an emerging trend for beef rearers to turn out really early, grazing as much of the available grass area as possible before shutting up ground for silage.”

However, Dr Lowman also sees a potential downside, unless specific changes are made by beef producers.

He is concerned by how easy it is to seriously underestimate the way growth rates of grazing cattle are slowed by unseen worm infections, long before the tell-tale signs of scour and dirty rumps become visible.

Source: Farmers Guardian