Survey of the prevalence of warble fly larvae in market cattle in Great Britain

A survey of warble-infested 'fat' cattle in 57 selected livestock markets in Great Britain was carried out during June 1972 and during May each year from 1973 to 1984. The annual total number of cattle inspected varied from 41,587 to 60,481. The level of infestation increased from 22.3 per cent in 1972 to 38.0 per cent in 1976 and then declined slightly to 34.3 per cent in 1978. Following the introduction of legislation and the warble fly eradication campaign in 1978 there was a rapid decrease to 8.6 per cent infestation by 1979 and by 1984 the level was less than 0.02 per cent.