How accurate is the cattle FEC test?
There is controversy over the usefulness of cattle FEC because of a perceived high level of variability between tests. This view is partly correct – but only for older test methods, not the FECPAK test. The FECPAK system for cattle has been modified in order to achieve a higher level of test sensitivity than existing FEC techniques. Traditional test methods use the same procedures for both sheep and cattle, but only test to 50 or 100-epg sensitivity for cattle. As cattle can suffer production losses at relatively low epg levels (between 50 and 100 epg in young cattle), this sensitivity is critical to an accurate test and to good results. With traditional test methods only one egg needs to be found before we are in a potential “production loss” zone. Indeed in these tests one egg means a change in result of 50 or 100 epg. The FECPAK cattle test uses 10-epg sensitivity. The obvious advantage is that one egg missed or double counted only alters the result by 10 epg.
