Worming sheep
Posted: Saturday 17 September, 2011
We weaned the ewe lambs on 4th September, amid a bit of baaing. Kept in the paddock next to their mums, they all settled down. Because we have small numbers, running lots of little groups of sheep is difficult to manage, so on the 15th, we put the ewe lambs back in with their mothers. I was a wee bit anxious and hoped that a) the lambs had "grown up" and b) the ewes' milk would have dried up. Anyway, they're fine - the lambs didn't try to suckle at all.
All thirteen of these females will now run as a group "forever", apart from the six weeks or so when Leo is in with the ewes and gimmers. Over this period, the four ewe lambs will be elsewhere with Uncle Dickie.
I like keeping the females together - the ewe lambs are around at lambing time so maybe have a better idea when it comes to their turn. They certainly seem to form family ties; Juno has a 2010 daughter, Nellie, and two 2011 daughters (Pixie and Poppy) and I often see the four grazing together. Nellie also spent a lot of time with Poppy and Pixie when they were tiny.
I digress, though, from the theme. I was planning to give the girls a flukicide before I moved them on to fresh grass this weekend. I do them for fluke twice a year - after they lamb and are being turned out on to clean grass and before tupping. However, I thought I should do a faecal worm egg count first, just in case they needed wormed as well. I posted the sample to Westgate Laboratories on Thursday afternoon and had the results by email on Friday afternoon. The sample showed 200 eggs per gram - a medium count but enough for me to want to worm them.
When I checked back the medecine book, I discovered that, apart from Niamh and Nova who were wormed when we bought them in October 2010, I hadn't wormed the others since January 2010. The two faecal egg counts in Spring and Autumn 2010 and the one in Spring 2011 had been clear of eggs.
I'm going to use Panacur 10% for two reasons - one, the active ingredient is fenbendazole (the previous wormer was ivermectin based and it's advised to use different chemicals each year to prevent a build up of resistance) and two, it can be used on the cattle and ponies, if they need it, as well as the sheep. I'll leave them on the current paddock for a few days to expel any nasties, then move them to a fresh one. A "worm and move" strategy is now not recommended.
Just to be sure, though, I'm running the plan past my long-suffering and very helpful vet.
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