The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: earlybird on November 08, 2012, 04:39:50 pm
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gave our small flock of sheep (4) and our goats (5) a dose of combinex for worm and fluke but cannot find any information if this needs repeating after a certain time, the literature that came with it and looking on various sites dosent mention anything only on dose to give , would appretiate input on subject, thanks carol. :goat: :goat: :sheep: :sheep:
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Depends whether you intend to use the same product, what your local environment is like, and which parasite you are trying to protect your animals from.
Personally I wouldn't use a combined product, as I don't need to worm over winter, but I do need protection from fluke as my area is very wet. Thus I would give a flukicide every 10-12 weeks (depending on the product - Flukiver or Triclafas in my case) from Sept through to May.
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I don't know what the dosage of Combinex would be for goats, have you spoken to your vet about this? Most wormers (except one and don't know from the top of my head which one) have to be given at at lueast 1.5 if not twice the sheep dose for goats. Unless there is clear evidence (faecal count) that the goats have fluke, I wouldn't treat them.
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Avoiding the combination aspect,
Fasinex is Triclabendazole so it should kill all the fluke currently in your sheep (if given at the right dose). Closantel based drugs will need a repeat dose later as it doesn't kill young fluke.
Hope that helps.
Dans
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Ask your vet about repeat dosing advice for your area.
We are a very flukey area here, so would need to repeat dose sheep after 6-8 weeks to maintain protection. "Normally" (whatever that means now), fluke is a winter problem, worms a summer one, hence we would 'normally' give the final fluke dose before lambing, but these very wet years we've had to carry on fluking throughout the year.
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Probably best to establish if you actually have fluke first.
I went a bit spend-happy and bought closantel this summer which I dosed the ewes with on the supposed risk (by me) of fluke, as I hear fecs for fluke are not really that accurate. The lambs got something much cheaper and targeted at the worms they actually had.
Guess what? I've not got fuke, never had fluke so basically I wasted £60.
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Fluke is one of the hard ones for FEC, as it's an influx of young fluke that can kill your animals, and a FEC will never pick up fluke until they are 9 weeks plus.
If you don't know if fluke is problem in your area ask around, farmers will know.
Dans