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[ Drench resistance of Australian cattle
worms. Hormones in beef and other furphies. August – think fluke. Omega
3s and prostate cancer. Praise for Lance Armstrong. WormMail and WordPress.
Wormboss ]
Last Friday (9th Aug) the Graham Centre held a Beef Forum.
For more information on the Graham Centre, the agenda for the forum, and links to speakers’ PowerPoint presentations, go to this link:
http://www.csu.edu.au/research/grahamcentre/field-day/beef.htm
Also attached is the ‘resistance’ paper, a very brief overview of resistance of cattle roundworms and liver fluke in Australia.
In the paper I mention how you can check the efficacy of the drench you just gave. You can also get assistance from various quarters, including your private vet, LHPA vets/rangers, rural re-sellers (agribusinesses), and pharmaceutical companies.
Merial (Dr Vanessa Watson and colleagues), for example, are currently surveying cattle herds for drench resistance and I believe are still looking for cooperators. Contact info: http://www.merial.com/EN/ContactUs/Pages/LatinAmericaOceania.aspx
Question: from whence was the first reported case (according to Overend) in the world of resistance of liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) to triclabendazole?
Hormones in beef and other furphies
‘Something that stuck in my mind from Emma Whittaker’s talk on HGPs: an egg has as much oestradiol 17 beta as 77 kg of HGP-treated beef.
(Here is a reference: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/beef/husbandry/hgp/q-and-a#What-are-the-hormone-levels-in-beef-from-cattle-given-HGPs? )
And, I have been told that, relative to meat from HGP treated animals – there is a whole lot more in the way of oestrogens in cows slaughtered post-partum or in various parts of the oestrus cycle. ‘Makes sense really.
But, back to eggs: to avoid the feminising effect of an egg at breakfast, I should eat large amounts (up to 77 kg) of beef instead?
(Perhaps I should just eat lots of soy-based products – and be loaded up with phyto-oestrogens instead? Plant-based diets are necessarily nutritionally better than what omnivores eat, right?).
Don’t tell anyone about the hormones (e.g. bovine insulin) in milk (Yes, there are hormones in milk. Significance?).
Hormones in chicken? Well, the average joe/jill believes that intensively raised chickens are given hormones, which hasn’t been the case in Australia for decades.
‘Permeates’ and milk?: another furphy. (Actually, I believe beer has estrogenic effects….)
By the way, lest you think I am knocking vegetarians, I have a lot of respect for conscientious/thoughtful vegetarians, even if I don’t necessarily agree with all their views. And if you read (one-time vegan) Lierre Keith’s book (The Myth of Vegetarianism), you’ll find a lot therein that is confronting for omnivores (not least males) as well as vegetarians.
(‘Just trying to be evidence-based….)
It’s August – think fluke
Do you need to treat and / or test your livestock for liver fluke? The key months for this in SE Australia: April, August. February.
See: http://www.wormboss.com.au/worms/flukes/liver-fluke.php ; http://www.wormboss.com.au/files/pages/worms/flukes/liver-fluke/Prime_Fact_446___Liver_fluke_disease_in_sheep_and_cattle.pdf ; http://www.wormboss.com.au/files/pages/worms/flukes/liver-fluke/Prime_Fact_813___Liver_fluke_the_basics.pdf
Omega 3s and prostate cancer – an exercise in interpreting the literature, and the media’s interpretation of the literature
You might recall the news some weeks ago that gave the impression that if you consume omega 3s (indeterminate amounts) you had a greater chance of dying of prostate cancer (unless you are a woman).
Men everywhere were gagging on their fish oil capsules.
This British medico reflects on this: http://www.drbriffa.com/2013/07/16/my-take-on-the-fish-oil-and-prostate-cancer-study/ It is an example of pitfalls in interpreting scientific studies, especially epidemiological ones.
Praise for Lance Armstrong
See attached/pasted JPEG.
WormMail and WordPress
Copies of WormMail also appear on the web: WormMail in the cloud – www.wormmailinthecloud.wordpress.com
We are about to migrate to a new email system. If my WormMail mailing list goes belly up in the process ….. well, there is always WordPress (although my previous blogging platform – Posterous – was bought then killed off by Twitter).
WormBoss www.wormboss.com.au
‘Have you been to WormBoss lately? If you deal with sheep-worms, why not? (unless you like a handicap).
Ancare gives WormBoss a plug: http://www.ancare.com.au/Pages/index.aspx
‘Smart people.
SL, Armidale. 20130815
e&oe ( I have yet to achieve an error-free WRML)
Love S.20130809.Drench resistance and beef cattle in Australia.Graham Centre Wagga.pdf
