Author Topic: FEC results - what to do now...... (Read 5215 times)

suziequeue · « **on:** July 29, 2014, 10:28:40 pm »

Well - I sent off a group count for the ewes (lambs had a separate one).

It's come back as medium load: strongyle: 350epg, Nematodirus 50epg and coccidial oocysts 200epg.

I have had a look at the SCOPS website and - to be honest- can't make any sense of their leaflet as none of the recommendations tally with my results.

Looking on wiki. I can see that strongyles are roundworms, Nematodirus is also a roundworm from what I can gather and coccidial oocytes aren't treated with worming drench anyway.

I was therefore planning to use Rycoben - a white dewormer - move the sheep off the paddock after 48hrs and do a post drench test two weeks afterwards.

But of course I am waiting for the lamb group results to come back too. I know they have tapeworm as number 66 - the wet bottomed ram lamb passed quite a big one last weekend.

Am I doing the right thing?

Foobar · « **Reply #1 on:** July 29, 2014, 10:43:57 pm »

I wouldn't be worming my ewes at this time of year at all (or even FECing them), mine only ever get wormed pre-lambing.
I'll be interested to see what you lambs come back with. I would be tempted to wait on treating the ewes until you know what your lambs are showing - unless you have any ewes that are looking under the weather or scouring. When were they last wormed?

Edit: i don't know anything about coxi, so hopefully someone else will be able to comment on them

Foobar · « **Reply #2 on:** July 29, 2014, 10:57:14 pm »

Ooo, here's a handy doc/chart, and it includes cattle and pigs too:
http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=MKirdvRA3Ls%3D&tabid=1284

suziequeue · « **Reply #3 on:** July 29, 2014, 11:02:18 pm »

Well - we've been a bit haphazard about the whole issue up until now so - gotta start somewhere......

Tim W · « **Reply #4 on:** July 30, 2014, 09:57:13 pm »

Ewes will handle those counts with no problem----don't bother worming
Cocci ---that's a low count by any standards and you don't know if these are pathogenic cocci species or not so again don't worry unless you have ewes with black/runny back ends etc

If your lambs have a similar total FEC of 400 epg you will have to judge as in my experience this is borderline treatment zone

Consider if they are scouring, growing well, what fodder they have ahead of them and how old they are in making a decision

If they are clean bummed, growing well , on clean lush clover and over 16 weeks old they may not want treating ---if they have poor grazing , are younger and not thriving then worming may be in order

It's not a clear cut decision

suziequeue · « **Reply #5 on:** July 30, 2014, 10:29:12 pm »

Well - as it turns out - the lamb samples got mixed in with the ewe samples (seems I had misunderstood the instructions) so that's a group effort - five lambs and five random ewes.

I think I will treat as their weight has plateaued of late although they all have dry bums now (one ram lamb got an early treatment with Rycoben last weekend as he had a very runny bum).

Bionic · « **Reply #6 on:** July 31, 2014, 08:22:01 am »

I can only say that my egg count for the lambs was 500 and vet said that this wasn't high but suggested worming would be a good idea.
Ewes were not wormed as they are more able to deal with the worm burden unless it's high.

suziequeue · « **Reply #7 on:** July 31, 2014, 08:43:13 am »

We are weaning this coming weekend so we will worm and then wean a couple of days later. The lambs will be going onto pasture which hasn't had sheep on it for six months and the ewes will move to paddock number 4 which hasn't been grazed for six weeks.

I am quite pleased that the counts seem fairly low/medium since I don't think we have wormed them since last March!

Backinwellies · « **Reply #8 on:** July 31, 2014, 01:04:31 pm »

So when you worm they will all go back onto dirty pasture for a couple of days? .... this is needed to avoid increased resistant worms.

ScotsGirl · « **Reply #9 on:** July 31, 2014, 01:09:38 pm »

I only worm if touring, do FEC samples at key times and worm on results. However, I did lose a ewe that I knew had tapeworm but vet wasn't bothered. I am sure that was the cause and have now got Benzimole from Scats. This kills adult and egg of all worms inc tapeworm and fluke. Still only doing new stock and scourers but I think there is less resistance to this one.

If lambs scour and wormer doesn't fix I then give a dose of vecoxin just in case it's cocci.

suziequeue · « **Reply #10 on:** July 31, 2014, 08:14:14 pm »

Quote from: Backinwellies on July 31, 2014, 01:04:31 pm

So when you worm they will all go back onto dirty pasture for a couple of days? .... this is needed to avoid increased resistant worms.

Yes

suziequeue · « **Reply #11 on:** August 17, 2014, 05:59:20 pm »

So we did a FEC on 28/7/14 on the whole flock and we have medium infection of:

Strongoyle 350
Nematodirus 50
Coccidial oocysts 200

We wormed them all with Rycoben on 3rd August, left them in the field for two days and then separated them all. The lambs were moved to clean pasture and the ewes moved on to another paddock.

Wil be doing another post-drench FEC on each separate group tomorrow.

Am I going the right way about things?