In this episode, Dr. Eliza Ripplinger from BVS and Steven Clark from Huvepharma explain how chemical anti-coccidials help protect turkeys from coccidia, a parasite that damages the gut and impacts bird health and growth. They discuss how these drugs work, how they’re used in feed programs, and why rotation is important to prevent resistance. Listeners will also learn how weather, farm practices, and teamwork all play a role in managing coccidiosis.
In this episode, Dr. Eliza Ripplinger from BVS and Dr. Steven Clark from Huvepharma explain how chemical anti-coccidials help protect turkeys from coccidia, a parasite that damages the gut and impacts bird health and growth. They discuss how these drugs work, how they’re used in feed programs, and why rotation is important to prevent resistance. Listeners will also learn how weather, farm practices, and teamwork all play a role in managing coccidiosis.
On this episode, Dr. Eliza Ripplinger, a Technical Services Veterinarian with BVS, and Steven Clark, Veterinary Professional Service Turkey Manager with Huvepharma join us to talk about coccidia and how producers use chemical anti-coccidials to control it in turkeys.
Coccidia is a microscopic parasite that birds pick up by ingesting its eggs from their environment. Once inside the intestines, it matures, reproduces, and damages the gut lining. This makes it harder for birds to convert feed into energy and can also allow harmful bacteria to grow, leading to secondary infections.
Chemical anti-coccidials are FDA-approved synthetic drugs added to turkey feed. When the bird eats the feed, these chemicals inhibit the reproduction of coccidia during its 6–7 day life cycle. They are very potent, flexible to use, and fit into No Antibiotics Ever production programs. They also have a zero-day withdrawal time and are commonly used continuously until around eight weeks of age, often as part of a shuttle program where different products are used at different stages.
Because resistance can develop, most farms rotate which chemical products they use every few flocks. Rotation programs can vary from farm to farm based on local resistance patterns, and veterinarians, feed mills, and farmers work closely together to determine dosages and strategies. Posting sessions are also helpful to check if a coccidia control program is working.
Weather can also influence control strategies—vaccines require live organisms to survive, so they are usually used in cooler, less humid seasons, while chemicals are more versatile and can be used year-round. While chemical anti-coccidials are the most flexible tool, they are also the most prone to resistance, so careful planning is important.
In this episode, we break down the different options for coccidiosis control, the pros and cons of using chemical anti-coccidials, and how different tools can work together to keep flocks healthy.
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