G'day Predator.I have never played with whitetail so I well may be wrong (wouldn't be the first time), I have always been under the impression that Whitetail did not suffer from liver fluke as they have co-evolved.They only acted as a reservoir. Could this be a question unrelated to whitetail??? I take care of liver fluke with regular drenches (ivermectin,cydectin).This kills the adults,it may not get all the young so re-drench the animals after a month or two.The best management is to keep your animals on well drained pasture,as freshwater snails are the intermediate host for fluke.Infected animals may appear emaciated,suffer diarrhoea & their coat appear rough.Examination of the liver will show scaring & of course mature flukes, if death from inflammation has occurred.I to would appreciate any more information on this topic.Cheers Sharkey
Valbazen is about the only thing that will handle the flukes in the north central states. We lost a fair amount of fallow deer believing ivermectin and cydectin would keep them in control. Any of the european deer just don't seem to handle the flukes. Whitetail seems to handle flukes, but if you don't keep them under control the flukes definately detract from horn growth.
As far as symptoms on fallow deer and red deer they just keel over dead. Fine one day dead the next.
Liver flukes are a flat worm.Treat them by drenching,every four weeks or so in spring & summer if your pasture is poorly drained, & once at the start of winter.(This is how I manage them).The same drench as you use for round worms & tape worms will work(you may already account for them with your current health management program).Adult liver flukes produce eggs which are then deposited onto your pasture.The eggs hatch into larvae & infect freshwater snails.The larvae then re-multiply into an aquatic stage & infest the pasture where they are eaten by the deer.They then hatch migrate to the liver & the cycle starts again. Cheers Sharkey
Joined Oct 2009
3,165 Posts | 1+
upstate ny
Valbazen is the only thing we use to treat our deer.It wipes out flucks and most all worms a deer will run into.There is a time when the does are bred that you should not use but we treat in the fall so no problem there.Safeguard on a regular basis and ivomec any time you handle a deer.Should be good to go!