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Letter: We give cows their own medicine cabinet

Published 23 April 2025

From Iain Gordon, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

I read with interest your interview with Jaap de Roode on self-medication in animals. My research focuses on domestic livestock self-medicating against gut parasites using medicinal plants. De Roode mentions that farm animals lack a varied diet for better health. At Lincoln University’s Integral Health Dairy Farm in New Zealand, we introduced woodland strips with herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees, allowing animals to feed on aromatic plants for medication (22 March, p 34).

Issue no. 3540 published 26 April 2025

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