Meat inspection records are also a valuable source of information for veterinary epidemiologists, particularly in the study of sub-clinical disease. Slaughter house investigations can also be used to indicate faults in husbandry. Statistical evaluation of the data was conducted to determine measures of relationship and variation. Results of this study will be used to formulate extension and other educational projects for producers. Animal origin information was coded to protect individual producer identification and organized by geographic locations.
Moisture is required for the completion of the life cycle for liver flukes.
Results The input of data from slaughter house records is an ongoing project. Table 1 summarizes the 33 geographic locations of origin of slaughtered cattle by year. The numbers of animals slaughtered per geographic location ranged from a minimum of one to a maximum of 324 with an average of about 39 per location. There were 582 animals diagnosed with liver flukes. The number of animals with flukes ranged from one to 16 animals per location of origin, with a mean of approximately two animals infected with liver flukes per location of origin.