Environmental Aspect Beef Cattle on Smallholder Farms

Abstract

Public awareness of the importance of animal protein makes meat as one of the livestock products that is increasingly in demand. Beef cattle are one of the most popular livestock in the livestock sector. The ability of beef cattle to produce meat in both quality and quantity is influenced by genetic and environmental aspects. Environmental aspects that influence are maintenance, feed, reproductive management and health. One of the efforts to increase beef cattle productivity is through disease control. One of the diseases that cause reduced live weight of beef cattle is intestinal worms. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of helminthiasis in one of the people’s beef cattle centers, namely Negeri Katon sub-district, Pesawaran district. Stool samples were taken from smallholder farmers, then tested by the flotation method. The positive sample is then followed by an identification test to analyze the type of parasitic worm that infects. To determine the severity of infection, eggs per gram of stool were tested using the whitlock method. The prevalence of helminthiasis in the sub-district of Negeri Katon, Pesawaran Regency is 85.15%. The worms that infect the beef cattle in the sub-district of Negeri Katon, Pesawaran Regency are species of Mecistocirrus, Moniezia, Toxocara, Haemonchus sp. Nematodirus, Bunostomum, Cooperis, Trichostrongylus, Oesophagostomum, Trichuris and Ostertagia sp. The highest worm/helmint infection in smallholder beef cattle in the Negeri Katon district was infection by Mecistocirrus, Haemonchus and Oesophagostomum. The moderate degree of worm infection is infection caused by Haemonchus sp, Nematodirus, Bunostomum, Cooperia, Trichostrongylus, Trichuris, Ostertagia sp, Mecistocirrus, Moniezia, and Toxocara.