The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Marie_ on December 27, 2018, 08:24:08 am

Title: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: Marie_ on December 27, 2018, 08:24:08 am
I've just inherited three sheep - to be kept on 4 acres (two paddocks) with my two rescue ponies.  Can someone please share with me their treatment schedule (worm, fluke, fly etc) or recommend somewhere to research a guide to this?

All I've researched so far leads me to think I'll use Clik pour on from shearing in May and worm counts rather than worming treatments (I do this for the ponies and they haven't needed worming for two years). Not sure what best to use for fluke.  I'm in a low risk area but have been recommended to treat to prevent this by a farming friend.

Any advice gratefully received.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: twizzel on December 28, 2018, 09:42:51 am
Worm counts are a good idea. I use Clik 4 weeks after shearing, that should see them through the summer. I am thinking of using Clik extra this year though as an extra couple of weeks would put my mind at rest in a mild autumn.


For fluke, we are a fairly high risk farm so our ewes get fasinex at the end of September when the rams go in, at scanning just before Christmas, and then flukiver at lambing (different active ingredient to prevent any triclabendazole resistance which is the active ingredient in fasinex). You would be better to find a friendly farmer that will drench your sheep when he does his, simply as the bottle sizes are very large and you’d never use them by the expiry.
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: Nelson International on January 01, 2019, 07:37:30 pm
We shear fairly late - my farmer friend says our sheep's wool doesn't 'rise' until June, I think, so we do one cycle of crovect before we shear. Otherwise I'm pretty much the same - only drench if a worm count demands it, but fluke before lambing and again in the new year. I'd have to look in my flock book to see if I've done it 2 times or 3 in a year.

The other things I do are:
- heptavac. The ewes get a top-up before lambing, then the lambs get a first dose and the second the appropriate times after birth. It's a bit of a pain because this stuff really only lasts a day or so, and is ~25 doses per bottle, so I try to go halves with friends or something similar.
- Minerals. The year before last I had some trouble with photosensitivity, so I was giving a regular mineral drench. As I understand it the local land is quite poor for cobalt in particular, so most farmers give a bolus. 
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: Justin on January 08, 2019, 05:51:05 pm
We've just bought our first sheep, 4 whethers that we'll be keeping until April. It's a test to see if we enjoy it and want to keep more. We already know we will, despite them being the daftest animals we've got so in the spring we'll get 6 ewes with lambs to start a little flock.

I picked up a worm count kit from mole valley and the results said they needed worming. The person who phoned me with the results recommended a combined worm and fluke treatment which I picked up from mole valley. That should be enough to see them through to the spring.

I try not to dose animals unless it's needed so doing an egg count first seems to be a sensible option and just treat according to that. My neighbour is a sheep farmer so I tend to check in with him and he lets me know what's happening locally and if I might need to do something about it.
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: harmony on January 08, 2019, 07:30:52 pm

Talk to your vet about an FEC. Don't worm if they don't need it. Talk to your vet about the fluke status in your area. With respect some farmers just worm and fluke regardless and that's why we have so much resistance. Combination wormers/fluke treatment are also responsible for resistance.


Don't treat for flies before clipping. The shearers wont be impressed.
I haven't treated for flies for the last three years. I get my sheep clipped in May and I check them twice a day for strike. I haven't had a struck sheep.


I do drench with minerals and vitamins. The shelf like is fairly long on those.


For three sheep it will be difficult to use up even the smallest amounts wormers and fluke drench are sold in. As mentioned seeing if you can do them, if needed, with a neighbour is helpful.


I do vaccinate. It will cost you around £45 to do the sheep as it will be two bottles to do the two doses. You need 4ml from a 50ml bottle. Once opened a bottle has to be used within 10 hours. Some people will be vaccinating their lambers as a booster so ask around and see if you can have a couple of does from someone.


Join your local smallholder group then you can find people to share advice and bottles.


What sort of sheep and ponies are they? Four acres for two ponies and 3 sheep will need managing.
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: Marie_ on January 20, 2019, 11:16:14 am
Thanks guys and apologies for the late reply.  The ponies are welsh A and the sheep are Norfolk Horn.  We have more land and I do rotate grazing.  I'll check in with my vet too.  Thanks again!
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: Fleecewife on January 20, 2019, 12:47:58 pm
<<< Don't treat for flies before clipping. The shearers wont be impressed.>>>

I agree absolutely with Harmony on this point.  Crovect sticks to the fleece for a good 6 weeks, three months to be on the safe side.  Crovecting closer to shearing than that means that the shearer is exposed to the chemicals for each sheep he/she shears.  Then when the fleece is scoured, either commercially of by craft workers, the effluent will contaminate the water supply with the drainage from the scouring.  Finally there may still be some residue left on the fleece after scouring, which will mean any craft worker, or mill worker will be exposed to the chemicals for the whole time they are working with that fleece.

The 'rise' of a fleece is associated with temperature, as is the arrival of flies, so if your sheep get their rise in June, you are probably in a colder area so flies are unlikely to arrive before May.  Watch your sheep very carefully every day for any hints of flies, fly interest or signs of strike.  Treat with Crovect if there are flies, but check your shearer is happy to go ahead with removing the fleece, then condemn those fleeces as contaminated.
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: SallyintNorth on January 20, 2019, 12:51:55 pm
And Norfolk Horn can be gorgeous fleece so you’ll sell them to handspinners very easily if they’re nice.  However, not all Norfolk Horn have nice spinnable fleeces.  Whereabouts are you?  Do you know any spinners nearby who could have a look at your fleeces for you?

I’d be in the market for one myself if they’re good; a nice Norfolk Horn is one of my absolute favourites.
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: Nelson International on January 21, 2019, 01:36:47 pm
Quote
Crovect sticks to the fleece for a good 6 weeks, three months to be on the safe side.  Crovecting closer to shearing than that means that the shearer is exposed to the chemicals for each sheep he/she shears.  Then when the fleece is scoured, either commercially of by craft workers, the effluent will contaminate the water supply with the drainage from the scouring.  Finally there may still be some residue left on the fleece after scouring, which will mean any craft worker, or mill worker will be exposed to the chemicals for the whole time they are working with that fleece.

Thanks for these comments - I should say that it is the guy I shear with who advised me to give the sheep a dose of crovect in advance of shearing and we did do it 6 weeks beforehand, but I'll have a serious rethink and go without if at all possible in the future.
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: Marie_ on April 28, 2019, 08:20:23 am
Hi SallyInTheNorth, sorry for the delayed reply, I obviously haven't got my alert settings set properly.  We're about as far away from Cornwall as you could get! Norfolk.  Happy to keep a fleece for you if you ever get this way otherwise I have a spinner who wants them.  Thanks Marie
Title: Re: Can you please share your treatment schedules with me?
Post by: SallyintNorth on April 28, 2019, 11:24:24 am
Hi SallyInTheNorth, sorry for the delayed reply, I obviously haven't got my alert settings set properly.  We're about as far away from Cornwall as you could get! Norfolk.  Happy to keep a fleece for you if you ever get this way otherwise I have a spinner who wants them.  Thanks Marie

If you’ve got a spinner lined up for them, that’s great :thumbsup: Please tell her if that if they’re nice, and she has more than she and her pals can use, I would be happy to pay for one (or probably more if I ask around my spinning pals, many of us love Norfolk Horn) and for getting it couriered, if she can be bothered.  If not, I quite understand, and will contact you if I’m ever headed into Norfolk with my teeny tiny caravan :).