Thank you very much for all your valuable advice. I shall ask my vet, although I have already asked about this before. We only have a bit of land- we're in Callander by the way- so fencing off areas wasn't an option, or moving the sheep elsewhere. We were just advised to fluke in Sept/Oct, January and April.
So far we have used Fasimec Duos, but I want to change this for the next dosing.
Just out of interest, someone has given me a report from the Morwedun Foundation titled 'Liver Fluke Disease in Sheep and Cattle' and that mentions other active ingreients for liver fluke, in addition to Triclabendazole.
These are Closantel - as Dougal alreay mentioned- (found in Closamectin) and Albendazole (haven't looked for dthe product yet as can't use in pregnant ewes) and online I found that Trodax contains Nitroxynil.
I was thinking, in terms of resistance, of trying one of these other ones?
As for bad feet, my small herd of Hebrideans are doing very well despite traipsing through mud. It has been a particularly rainy winter.
Oh, and Rosemary- I do have Tim Tyne's book and it's great, but he only mentions maybe having to fluke twice a year, and has a nice picture of a bottle-jawed sheep, unless I missed some other information. I just assumed maybe it wasn't a problem in his area. Maybe I need to read it again (currently on lambing section, making me nervous, hoping a lambing course comes up...).
Sorry- I'm digressing. Thanks again for your help. If anyone has experience of using Trodax or Closamectin, or any advice on whether it's a good idea to switch to these next, please let me know.
Re the worming kits, I bought one from Smallholders Supplies and although it doesn't say online that they test for fluke, you can request it. Think it only records adult flukes though.
The vet did some tests when our 2 sheep died (not sure it would be the same test as the home kit) but although they came back clear, it can be a false positive, or vice versa.
Just thought of another question. We were advised to fluke drench next in April. Our first lambs will hopefully come mid April and I'm now assuming that dosing the ewes should be after lambing before being turned out?
Thanks again., Joanne xxxx
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