Which management practice is an example of a grazing-based parasite control strategy?

Which management practice is an example of a grazing-based parasite control strategy?

• A. Pasture rotation
• B. Vaccination
• C. Antibiotics
• D. Deworming via feed

Answer: (A)

Grazing-based parasite control relies on reducing animals’ exposure to infective parasite larvae by managing where and when they graze. By rotating livestock among different pastures, you give contaminated paddocks a rest, allowing larval populations to decline with time and favorable conditions. When animals are moved to fresh pasture, they ingest fewer larvae, lowering their parasite burden without immediate reliance on drugs. This approach also helps maintain refugia, keeping some susceptible parasites in the population so drug resistance develops more slowly if anthelmintics are used later. Vaccination and antibiotics are medical interventions rather than grazing-management strategies, and deworming via feed is a drug-based method rather than a grazing-management approach.

Grazing-based parasite control relies on reducing animals’ exposure to infective parasite larvae by managing where and when they graze. By rotating livestock among different pastures, you give contaminated paddocks a rest, allowing larval populations to decline with time and favorable conditions. When animals are moved to fresh pasture, they ingest fewer larvae, lowering their parasite burden without immediate reliance on drugs. This approach also helps maintain refugia, keeping some susceptible parasites in the population so drug resistance develops more slowly if anthelmintics are used later. Vaccination and antibiotics are medical interventions rather than grazing-management strategies, and deworming via feed is a drug-based method rather than a grazing-management approach.