The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: novicesmallholder on August 20, 2013, 07:03:01 pm
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Anybody else having a problem with lung worm? We lost a ram lamb because of it last week and two more just getting over the effects of it.
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Our vet says that generally lung worm shouldn't cause lambs a problem and that it's hardly worth treating as the drugs only give about 3 weeks' cover.
Last year however we wormed them specifically for lung worm as it was a horrid year for livestock and we had lungworm reported by the abbatoir in 13/29 fat lambs, which we thought must be affecting them and therefore that it would be worth giving them a clearout even if they started to get infected again after 3 weeks.
We've just had a report on 23 fat lambs; only 3 had lungworm, which is more the level at which we would expect to find it.
NADIS has a bulletin which covers lungworm amongst other respiratory disorders in sheep (http://www.nadis.org.uk/bulletins/respiratory-disease-in-adult-and-yearling-sheep.aspx). Of lungworm it says,
Lungworm may cause coughing and weight loss in heavy infestations but this is very uncommon. Relative to parasitic gastroenteritis, lungworm infestation is of no economic significance to sheep farmers.
Treatment/Control
Treatment for lungworm is not necessary as their control can effectively be achieved by regular anthelmintic treatments used in the management of parasitic gastro-enteritis. Severe lungworm infestations are often seen in sheep with paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) due to compromise of the immune system.
It occurs to me that if sheepkeepers are using faecal egg counts to determine whether or not a worming dose is required, then the lambs are not getting the regular dosing for parasitic gastro-entiritis and therefore are not getting their lungworms cleared out every 6-8 weeks, which could I suppose give rise to a heavy infestation?
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It occurs to me that if sheepkeepers are using faecal egg counts to determine whether or not a worming dose is required, then the lambs are not getting the regular dosing for parasitic gastro-entiritis and therefore are not getting their lungworms cleared out every 6-8 weeks, which could I suppose give rise to a heavy infestation?
This is interesting Sally - we use FECs to determine worming needs. We had a couple of sheep coughing and the vet recommended I sent dung samples in. This was on the basis that although lungworm presence wouldn't of course come up in the test, she thought it extremely unlikely that they would have lungworms without having stomach worms as well. (The test came back negative)
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One thing I don't know is whether the lungworm that affects sheep is the same as the one that affects cattle. If so, then sheep sharing pasture with cattle could be at risk - the joint grazing would help keep the stomach worms down but not the lungworm.
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I've had problems with lung worm in sheep before. Ivermectin based, injected solutions are the most common control but these have a long withdrawl period. The main problem with sheep is the lack of clear symptoms. They tend not to cough like cattle will just lose weight and keel over over an extended period of time. If you know you have it in the stock at this time of year then I'd treat everything that I intend to take through the winter. It becomes a real killer through Febuary as the winter starts to take a grip of the ewes.
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All three of the common groups of wormers treat lungworm :raining:
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All three of the common groups of wormers treat lungworm :raining:
They do, but it's not a long-lasting protection. About 3 weeks, my vet says.
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Like anything its a cost-benefit decision. I would rather I had the odd case of lungworm than resistance to wormers...