Financial Impacts of Liver Fluke on Livestock Farms Under Climate Change–A Farm Level Assessment

Abstract

Liver fluke infection (fascioliasis) is a parasitic disease which affects the health and welfare of ruminants. It is a concern for the livestock industry and is considered as a growing threat to the industry because changing climatic conditions are projected to be more favorable to increased frequency and intensity of liver fluke outbreaks. Recent reports highlighted that the incidence and geographic range of liver fluke has increased in the UK over the last decade and estimated to increase the average risk of liver fluke in the UK due to increasing temperature and rainfall. This paper explores financial impacts of the disease with and without climate change effects on Scottish livestock farms using a farm-level economic model. The model is based on farming system analysis and uses linear programming technique to maximize farm net profit within farm resources. Farm level data from a sample of 160 Scottish livestock farms is used under a no disease baseline scenario and two disease scenarios (with and without climate change). These two disease scenarios are compared with the baseline scenario to estimate the financial impact of the disease at farm levels. The results suggest a 12% reduction in net profit on an average dairy farm compared to 6% reduction on an average beef farm under standard disease conditions. The losses increase by 2-fold on a dairy farm and 6-fold on a beef farm when climate change effects are included with disease conditions on farms. There is a large variability within farm groups with profitable farms incurring relatively lesser economic losses than non-profitable farms. There is a substantial increase in number of vulnerable farms both in dairy (+20%) and beef farms (+27%) under the disease alongside climate change conditions.

An economic assessment of alternative antimicrobial use scenarios on pig farms

“…The FEPM is a modified version of ScotFarm, a farm level economic model developed at SRUC to conduct impact assessment of external shocks to an agricultural production system. The ScotFarm model has previously been used to assess economic impacts of policies ( 57 , 60 , 76 ), to explore management scenarios reducing GHG emissions ( 56 , 77 ), and to determine the financial burdens of livestock diseases on farms ( 58 , 59 ). The FEPM model was run on two types of pig production systems in the UK.…”

The Economic Impact of Parasitism from Nematodes, Trematodes and Ticks on Beef Cattle Production

“…In a study of the financial impact of fascioliasis in 160 Scottish livestock farms with and without climate change, Shrestha et al (2020) found a 6% reduction in net profit on an average beef farm under standard disease conditions without the effects of climate change. When the effects of climate change were added, losses increased six-fold [77]. Clearly, climate change will have an impact on the profitability of cattle production.…”

Associations of production characteristics with the on-farm presence of Fasciola hepatica in dairy cows vary across production levels and indicate differences between breeds

“…Specifically, Schweizer et al [7] estimated a mean reduction of 9% in weight gain in growing cattle, a decrease in milk yield of 10% as well as a service period extended by 13 days, and an increase of 0.75 services per conception. According to recent work, the economic losses due to fasciolosis are likely to become even more pronounced when acknowledging climate change-induced effects and a higher proportion of herds possibly becoming exposed to F. hepatica [13]. Interestingly, notwithstanding the similar impact of fasciolosis across farms, some operations appear to be more capable of adjusting their systems and thus mitigating the impact of the disease, whereas others are more vulnerable to the adverse implications of fasciolosis [13].…”