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Author Topic: Tapeworms  (Read 6774 times)

simon.fern

  • Joined Sep 2015
Tapeworms
« on: September 23, 2015, 06:01:03 pm »
Newbie to the site!  I've got 2 fields totalling 5 acres and keep 15 ewes from 6 months upwards.  I rotate the flock between the fields and am out every day checking for dirty bums and feet problems (trying to do the right thing).  I have an issue with one of my Zwartbles lambs in that after having egg counts carried out during the year and the vet not finding anything, regular worming and changing the wormer from clear to white, she's got tape worm segments in her poo.  I've been poo picking for a couple of weeks now (to help remove the problem) and spoken to the vet who has advised I get probably the words most expensive wormer which I am ok with.  Where I am a bit lost is that I don't really have any clean pasture and am bordering OCD as to how I tackle this so the rest of the flock don't get them (probably a bit late).  I have a stable to get her out of the way/worm/dry up etc but I am really bothered about contamination etc...  am I winding myself up? I can't go on poo picking...  any help appreciated!!  Cheers

clydesdaleclopper

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2015, 08:57:54 pm »
Is there any way that you could run electric fencing to split the fields into smaller areas so that they can rest for longer?
Our holding has Anglo Nubian and British Toggenburg goats, Gotland sheep, Franconian Geese, Blue Swedish ducks, a whole load of mongrel hens and two semi-feral children.

simon.fern

  • Joined Sep 2015
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2015, 09:22:18 pm »
Have done just that this evening. See if I can 60 days between rotation.  Cheers

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2015, 09:54:55 pm »
The tapeworm has a two-stage lifecycle.  The intermediate host of the sheep tapeworm is a pasture mite.  So the bad news is that it's there in your pasture, yes.  The good news is that the sheep tapeworm doesn't really seem to do the sheep any harm- it's the dog tapeworm that causes damage.  But you don't see segments in the sheep's poo then; they are the intermediate hosts, and get cysts in their tissues.

Have a read of the Moredun page on Sheep tapeworm.

Quote from: Moredun
M.expansais considered to be non-pathogenic to sheep and is more of a worry to flock owners through the obvious presence of expelled tapeworm segments in sheep faeces.

So you can find a wormer that hits Monezia expansa, but you'd just be making yourself feel better  :D


Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

waterbuffalofarmer

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Mid Wales
  • Owner of 61 Mediterranean water buffaloes
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2015, 10:03:25 pm »
Is there something you could put on your pasture to get rid of tapeworms? as well as resting it too?
the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, loving concern.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2015, 10:06:23 pm »
I don't think so, wbf.  It doesn't cause the sheep any harm, so there'd be no market for such a product - so the chances are, no such product exists.

Whether the soil mites are affected by pH or anything I wouldn't know.  We need one of our academics to pop in!
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Me

  • Joined Feb 2014
  • Wild West
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2015, 10:21:41 pm »
Don't bother worming its a bit grim but not a big issue

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2015, 09:11:00 am »
I saw tapeworm in my sheep too. I did get a wormer for it although the vet was saying that with tapeworm they would be ok without the wormer. So it would see that its not a big issue as ME has said.
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

Hellybee

  • Joined Feb 2010
    • www.blaengwawrponies.co.uk
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #8 on: September 24, 2015, 09:11:44 am »
I hear that they are more trouble nutritionally than attacking the body, yucky though.  Putting apple cider vinegar in water said to help. Normalises the gut pH.  Worth a look x

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #9 on: September 24, 2015, 09:41:42 am »
Use the cheapest white wormer you can get (I use Parafend).  Do that now and then you can use it again in the spring to cover for Nematodirus, then use a different sort of wormer for all your other worming needs in the summer.


And worm your dogs, if you have any, regularly with a wormer that covers tapeworm.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #10 on: September 24, 2015, 10:08:54 am »
You do need to worm your dogs, yes of course - but that's not the worm whose segments you are seeing in the sheep's poo.  The dog tapeworm has the sheep as the intermediate host, the larvae migrate through the tissues creating cysts.  The adult worm lives and produces egg packets - the segments - in its primary host, the dog.

Presumably the adult worm does compete for food in the gut of the sheep, but it's clearly not to any great extent. 

If it's bothering you, most of the broad-spectrum wormers do say they are active against 'Tapeworm: Monezia'.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #11 on: September 24, 2015, 11:14:34 am »
Yes, that's true, it is a different tapeworm in dogs ... but my thinking is that if you have one you might have the other :) .

When was the last FEC count done of this lamb?  Did they check for fluke? is it losing weight? or any other symptoms apart from a dirty bottom?

Worm egg hatches are dependant on weather conditions so although she was clear earlier in the year that doesn't mean she's clear now.  It's all a matter of getting the timing right with your wormer doses.  She may be suffering more from the tapeworm because there is something else affecting her (be it other worms or something else).

What was the super expensive wormer that your vet suggested?  Maybe its one of the new ones that no worms are resistant to yet (any why they suggested using it).  What's the history of your fields, how long have your sheep been on them, and what was there before?  You might have inherited some resistant worm strains.

Btw, I pulled a 50cm long tapeworm segment out of a lambs bum last year, now that was unpleasant!! :)  Only the white/BZ/group 1 class of wormer will kill the tapeworm, so if you want to get rid of that then white is the way to go (but like I say it does mean you don't have other problems).  This document lists all the products available and what they kill: http://beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BRP-Parasite-control-guide-030315.pdf

shep53

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Dumfries & Galloway
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2015, 12:33:14 pm »
Also a combination product   LEVITAPE     the very expensive group 4 & 5 wormers don't mention tapeworm ?    tickled by some one poo picking sheep ,   think of the nutrients not getting into the soil
« Last Edit: September 24, 2015, 12:38:28 pm by shep53 »

Me

  • Joined Feb 2014
  • Wild West
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #13 on: September 24, 2015, 01:18:34 pm »
If they don't say they do tapeworms then they don't, expensive or not.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tapeworms
« Reply #14 on: September 24, 2015, 01:22:10 pm »
Yes, that's true, it is a different tapeworm in dogs ... but my thinking is that if you have one you might have the other :) .

Why?
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

 

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