The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Bionic on June 29, 2012, 10:39:29 am

Title: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Bionic on June 29, 2012, 10:39:29 am
My vet has given me a worming plan but the cost would be prohibitive for just 3 sheep as the wormers need to be rotated so you need one of each different colour (at different times).
 
How do those of you with just a few sheep manage?
 
Sally
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Haylo-peapod on June 29, 2012, 10:53:43 am
It might be worth doing a faecal egg count to see if the girls really need worming, especially since you have not had sheep on your land before. It is tricky when you have so few as the costs can rise disproportionately. Some of the use-by dates are quite long on the products and you can get small-ish bottles - so you may be able to make better use of them than you would have thought, especially if you are planning on growing your flock. I wouldn't rush out and get all 3 types but would get the appropriate type as you need it - IF indeed you do need it.
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Ladygrey on June 29, 2012, 10:58:43 am
I use Panomec injectable for sheep cattle and pigs (I buy a bottle and use for pigs and the sheep) so it doesnt work out very expensive as its for both.

I havnt ever rotated it  :innocent: instead you can avoid the possibility of sheep becoming immune to it by using it less often. And you can use it less often by using garlic to worm the sheep instead. ( no one else probly uses this)
 
Here is a page about how to make it http://www.skylinesfarm.com/parasitecontrol.htm (http://www.skylinesfarm.com/parasitecontrol.htm)

I buy 1kg bags of ground garlic from horse tack shop and it costs around 5 pounds per bag

Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: in the hills on June 29, 2012, 11:00:08 am
Bionic - Did your vet not say that he could supply the wormers that you need?


Our vet measures out the quantity of wormer / fluker that I need into a bottle. No waste and costs only £2-£3.  Much cheaper than worming my dog or cat.


Perhaps have a word with him/her.
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Bionic on June 29, 2012, 11:03:22 am
Haylo,
Perhaps I should have explained a bit better what the vet has said.
As Kaz kindly wormed them for me just before I bought them they will not need to be wormed again this year.
If I bring any new sheep on site they will need to be quarantined for 48 hours and given orange + clear drench or purple drench and then turned onto 'dirty pasture'
For lambs next year, bring in an faecal egg sample BEFORE worming. If they need worming then rotate white, yellow + clear groups.
Sheep may need a white/yellow drench in spring after a period of cool then warm weather as we had this year.
 
So if I intend to get some store lambs in I will need to do them with orange + clear, or purple and then will need to buy the other colours for next spring.
 
She was very clear about rotation so for example if, in the spring, I give them the white drench they CANNOT have that again next time so the use by dates are irrelevant, unless they last long enough to go through a few rotations.
 
Sally
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Bionic on June 29, 2012, 11:05:09 am
In the hills, that was very interesting, thanks.
 
I will ask the vet if they do this. It would certainly be my best option.
 
Sally
 
 
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: JMB on June 29, 2012, 11:12:17 am
I'm not sure if I'm saying anything new.
Our vet has offered to supply us with wormers (we had 14 sheep) in smaller quantities, so they should be able to provide you with a variety of what you need.
We have worm and fluke combinations and did Fasimec Duo S 3 times last year and this year I've had to buy a different active ingredient, so they're on Mebadown now.
Being a bit daft, I thought you rotated every year, but of course you can use one product, then a different one, and alternate, which might eek some products out longer.
I'd still ask your vet first about supplying it.
x
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: in the hills on June 29, 2012, 11:14:30 am
Worth a try - mine seem to do it routinely with anything except say Heptavac where bottles have to remain sealed. They even asked whether I could get a few doses of that from anyone I knew rather than have to buy a bottle.


Mind you, I've asked about a management/worming plan etc. and no joy there and if there was a real sheepie emergency my first call would be this site because the poor things would be dead if I had to wait for a return call. ::)
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: JMB on June 29, 2012, 11:21:20 am
Um...wonder how many people have leftover Heptavac in their fridges?
The farmer told us to just keep it and re-use.
Bad idea?
J x
 
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Haylo-peapod on June 29, 2012, 11:31:15 am
What a good bunch of vets some of you have - wish I had thought of asking for small quantities of wormer from the vet when I was starting out. I must admit I tend to ignore the use by dates on the wormers and just keep on rotating them until they are finished.
 
FEC samples off to the vet this morning so I can decide what to do about worming next time around. Have done different samples for adults and lambs as I suspect a different regime will be required.
 
BTW - the SCOPS website Bionic provided the other day is pretty handy. With the wet weather we have had in June it looks like we could be in for a bad year with Fluke.  :o
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Fleecewife on June 29, 2012, 12:07:03 pm
It's a great idea to work out a health plan for your flock with your vet  :thumbsup:
It sounds as if there must be a lot of wormer resistant worms in your area for her to be so hot on wormer rotation.  It is certainly good practice/vital in a large flock, but while you have only three sheep, on clean ground, and presumably with no evidence of wormer resistance, it seems a bit OTT.
 
I agree that ALL sheep brought onto your land should be wormed with the new class of wormer (Zolvix) to blitz anything there, and kept in isolation.  I would say keep them on hard standing for 48 hours til all worms and eggs passed (burn straw) but also to isolate them from the rest of the flock for 2 to 3 weeks, to check they are not carrying any other illness.   That way you have some chance of keeping your flock fairly worm and disease free.
 
The danger is always bringing new animals onto your land.  We have got to the point where we run a closed flock, so our worming can be kept to a minimum.  Older ewes become tolerant of a small worm burden, but obviously we keep a close eye on our lambs.  We worm the lambs once at about 2-3 months, depending on need, then just pick out any poopy bums and worm them as needed.  The meat boys are then done again in the autumn and if necessary about a month before slaughter, so in July.
 
Our vets are always happy to open bottles and split, to make sure that all small breeders in the area are keeping healthy flocks.  If your vet won't do that, there might be another in the area who will.   Using very out of date meds means that they might no longer be effective, plus when you get a visit from Trading Standards they will pick up on that.
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Haylo-peapod on June 29, 2012, 01:48:59 pm
Using very out of date meds means that they might no longer be effective, plus when you get a visit from Trading Standards they will pick up on that.

Interesting, I had heard that alot of these dates are fairly arbitrary and that it was generally OK to use stuff beyond the use by date.  I stand corrected.
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: suziequeue on June 29, 2012, 02:06:49 pm
I expect you are right up to a point Haylo..... but what is an animal health inspector going to suggest if he finds an out of date med. He/She can't really just say "hey ho"  :D 


The dates are there to protect and, although they are guesswork up to a point, they are not entirely arbitrary. After the date - the medicine cannot be guaranteed by the manufacturer.


Of course - even before the use by date, the medicine's viability/effectiveness will depend very much on how it is stored and used.
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: jaykay on June 29, 2012, 02:34:47 pm
I don't think, when you rotate wormers, you do them with one this time, a different one the next time etc. That way you'd just build up resistance to all of them  :o

The Moredun foundation have got some stuff on this, when I get home I will look for it. I'm sure they say you should use a wormer until there are signs of resistance.

You should also not put sheep onto clean pasture after worming. What happens then is that the only worms on the new pasture are by definition resistant to the wormer you've just used. They then have the field to themselves, so to speak, ie there's no competition from non-resistant worms, they can multiply as much as the like and then you've got sheep with a high wor m burden again - this time of resistant worms.

Ok, can't find the Moredun stuff but this is good managing worms in sheep (http://www.craigrobinson-vets.co.uk/anthelminticssheep.asp)

Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Foobar on June 29, 2012, 03:12:49 pm
Also, shop around, and check the available package sizes via the Noah Compendium.  Often products are available in smaller sizes that those that your local agri shop will stock (as they mostly cater for farmers, i.e. large numbers of sheep).  Check the internet too, places like Hyperdrug have a good selection of products in various sizes.


And (most importantly) check the shelf life before you buy!  Again the noah compendium should tell you the shelf life, so you can make sure you buy stock that has the longest possible date.  I have a tendency to ring the supplier to confirm the use by date before I purchase now.
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Fleecewife on June 29, 2012, 03:22:37 pm
Thank you for that link about wormer resistance Jaykay.  It is the clearest description I have read to date (apart from the slight annoyment that the author can't spell strategy  :innocent: )   I found it much clearer than the Scops explanation.
It would be worth putting the link in the TAS library, don't you think, so everyone can read it?
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: jaykay on June 29, 2012, 06:28:45 pm
We have a library?
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Bramblecot on June 29, 2012, 07:22:15 pm
Library? ???   Another thing I have missed - where please?
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: ScotsGirl on June 29, 2012, 08:41:03 pm
I have kept and used heptavac for several weeks but always used in that season then discard remains.  Wouldn't re-use the following year as it is a live vaccine I think.
 
Vets normally split routine wormers but not all types.
 
Regarding dates, might be slightly different, but I know of a welfare case near me where pigs were taken into Defra care and then destroyed because they had been given out of date vaccines.  They were otherwise healthy and no reason to kill.
 
Obviously it would only be an issue if you owned up to giving obsolete meds or put it on slaughter form but I would be careful.  Some react adversely if mixed with water also (can't remember which it was I used).  Just need to take care on how it looks before administering.
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Small Farmer on June 29, 2012, 09:49:58 pm
Um...wonder how many people have leftover Heptavac in their fridges?
The farmer told us to just keep it and re-use.
Bad idea?
J x
The expiry date on the bottle is 10 hours from first use.  This makes is very expensive so we draw off what we need in one go for the first session through one needle, cling film the top and straight back into the fridge.
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Fleecewife on June 29, 2012, 10:55:20 pm
We have a library?

Um I think Dan and Rosemary are putting together useful bits all in one place for reference, or they are intending to, or something ...?
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: omnipeasant on June 29, 2012, 11:55:00 pm
You need to befriend a local sheep farmer and get him/her to give or sell you some wormer that he has left. We always offer stuff to our neighbours with a few sheep if we have hep vac or wormers left that will be out of date soon. Hep vac we have never used after 12 hours of opening. 
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Deere on June 30, 2012, 12:14:49 am
Hi,
You must have heard me thinking about this very subject today when I was cruising up and down the hills on the tractor moving sheep!

I was just trying to weigh up the costs etc of setting up this year with some of my own sheep and was wondering whether people share their heptavac/wormer on here?

My O/H is a vet nurse (very handy lol) and I've got her a few to ask the vets tomorrow whether they do open products and sell single or small numbers of doses for the smaller flock etc?

Worth a try I suppose!

If not I would be willing to help out anyone local to me rather than throw it away.  I wouldn't risk using out of date stuff as your perfectly healthy animals will be sent to slaughter and you could end up being fined or even banned from keeping animals, I don't fancy the risk thanks!

Really pleased with this website it's very impressive when it comes to pooling resources and knowledge.

Tim
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: SteveHants on June 30, 2012, 12:24:38 am
Most wormers have quite a long shelf life so I haven't needed to split them. Heptavac does a 25 dose size I think, I started with 15 sheep and thats what I used.


I dont think animal health will make you destroy animals for using out of date medicines unless you are daft enough to have logged that thats what you did....
Title: Re: What do you do about the cost of wormers?
Post by: Small Farmer on June 30, 2012, 01:03:13 am
There are only five groups of wormers, and three of those groups are heavily compromised.  In some areas a significant proportion of worms are resistant to treatment, and there are no new chemical treatments in sight.  Without effective antithelmic drugs everything changes.


There are other approaches to worm management but they don't allow for intensive production.  Sheep and Cows  share the same worms but Horses have a different set.  This year's eggs turn into next year's worms, but if the right host animal isn't there then the cycle is broken.  So swapping sheep for horses each year, or growing hay instead of grazing will achieve a good result, but at a cost.


This is why it's important to get worming right, and that means knowing what it is your trying to kill and using the right tools in the right way.