A University of Adelaide study reported by the ABC in 2017 highlighted the estimated cost of toxoplasmosis to the South Australian sheep industry as $70 million dollars.
Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that impacts birthing rates in livestock, and most likely contributes to Meat and Livestock Australia’s estimated $540 million lambing loss per year for sheep.
Why don’t we have that issue in Western Australia? Or have we just not noticed?
We don’t know the extent of Toxo in WA, because there are no data available for the rates of infection of toxoplasmosis in livestock. Large sample size testing from around the world put the productivity loss at about 11-32% (Woinarski et al 2019).
That is a significant impact for something many of us have never heard of.
So what do we do about it?
This organism reproduces in the guts of cats, and it spreads through the faeces.
Answer, get rid of the feral cats. You don’t want them anywhere near the stock feed or the water supply and it has the added benefit of protecting our wildlife.
This is a good reason for taking action to get rid of feral cats on the farm.
www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2017-02-07/toxoplasmosis-costs-south-australian-sheep-producers/8245676