[Plas Nant]

Having for many years had to use minimal medical intervention, I've now found it necessary to inject for clostridial diseases. I've gone from no losses to substantail losses this last year and really have to now go for a preventitive program. The flock will be injected with Heptavac P, and had already been treated with a fly strike dose and a worming treatment. From nothing to this lot seems a shame but I really need to prevent further misery that I'm sure the horrendous weather has played a role in. Researching seems to open up a tremendous range of treatments that could be used and to be honest, I'm getting toally confused over what is really necessary and what is not, and what should be used in combination. Can any one advise what they see as a reasonable program of preventitive treatment against all these nasties for a small flock of soay or similar sheep? I do intend to consult the vet but would be interested in experience on here. Thanks, Bob.

[Hillview Farm]

Heptavac must be the best bet! I was talking to a farmer today and he swears by it, He also said for example pulpy kidney disease normally affects your best lambs showing no signs beforehand and they suddenly drop dead, the better the lamb does the more prone they are to it so surely it must be worth it! 

[SallyintNorth]

Absolutely, top priority Heptavac-P.  If you are confident you haven't a risk from pasteurella, you could use Covexin-8 or -10 instead; it is less hard on the ewe but doesn't cover pasteurella.

With small numbers, lightly stocked, good rotation, primitive sheep - you can probably just worm if you have a problem, not routinely.  Use FECs (faecal egg counts) to keep an eye on things if you are worried.

However, if there is fluke in your area they will need help for that.  Take your vet's advice, keep an eye on the NADIS forecast for regional / seasonal / climactic variations, and expect to be treating them every 6-8 weeks whenever the ground is suitable for snails.

Your vet will also advise on any mineral deficiencies in your area.  If s/he recommends a mineral drench once or twice a year, I'd do it.  An alternative is to put out rock salt, Rockies blocks, willow branches and/or powdered minerals & vitamins and let them select what they need.  Primitives will be pretty good at that.

[goosepimple]

I know exactly what you mean Plas Nant, we keep Soays amongst others and I'm just learning about all the different medication too and what to give when.  This past year has given us all something to think about.  I'm working with my vet now (via the testing lab) on what to give our sheep - their poo is being tested for all sorts just now as we had a ewe die a few days ago and don't know why so I thought it best to cover them all, including our wee goaties.  We don't have much in the way of stock but it's good to know that you are doing your best for them even if you do lose some.  It may cost a wee bit to get the tests done but then it's been an unusual year and analysis isn't something you would necessarly do annually, as you know, Soays are usually not susceptible to disease and are hardy wee things.  My vet will get back to me on Monday hopefully as I have asked what can and can't be done in combination.  Good luck and I hope this year is good for you.

[Fleecewife]

In fact, and perhaps surprisingly, the biggest killer of Soay sheep on St Kilda is worms.  Their population builds up over the good years until their numbers are too high for the available grazing, then there is a population crash.  Research (and there is lots being done out there) has shown that the cause of these deaths is mainly worms, added to the stress of starvation (I don't know which particular species of worms)
I agree though that they are otherwise hardy and have good feet, but they are as susceptible to problems such as fly strike, fluke and clostridial diseases as any other sheep.

[Plas Nant]

Thanks for the interesting replies so far, Heptavac P will be administered later. I'm slightly confused over Noromectin, is it used instead of a worming drench? Its seems to deal with an awaful lot of internal and external parasites. Would a program of Heptavac and Noromectin deal with most problems with the addition of a pour on to prevent fly strike? Faecal samples from my flock have always showed no worms but I've lost confidence that it tells you everything.

[SallyintNorth]

You use a pour-on for flystrike; Crovect, Vetrazin or Clik are the most common.

Ivermectin - the active ingredient in Noromectin - is effective against roundworm, lungworm and nasal bots.  You can get it in injectible or drench form.  Injectible Ivermectin gives cover against sheep scab too.

So yes you can use Noromectin instead of a worming drench, provided you have reason to believe that the worms you are dealing with are susceptible to it and not resistant to it. 

Ivermectin is not effective against fluke.  Unless your vet and NADIS both say there is no fluke in your area you need to be giving your sheep treatment to protect against liver fluke.  It kills and they do not develop natural immunity to it - if there is fluke in your area you must help them deal with it.

Ivermectin is also not effective against lice or ticks.  These external parasites can cause problems - in the case of ticks, there are some tick-borne diseases which can kill.  Your vet should know if you should be protecting against ticks in your area.  Crovect pour-on can be used to give this cover, as can injectible Dectomax or Closamectin for sheep.

[Richard Underwood]

We have Soay and use a different dosing regime for the lambs & shearling compared to the older sheep. The youngsters seem much more vulnerable so all get wormed (and fluked when appropriate) several times a year whereas the older girls and the rams only get dosed when they need it. Some of the older ones rarely if ever have problems so it isn't appropriate to dose them - not just the cost but also because it builds resistance in the parasites. Incidentally, current scientific advice seems to be to try not to worm drench all your flock in one go but to leave some undrenched each time to combat building up wormer resistance.

[SheepCrazy!]

Hi Plas Nant
It sounds like your doing all the right things, by putting them on the Heptivac p system, ect.
Ive been in a similar situation small flock and lots of information! Heres my general plan for my Soays, ewes are all injected with Heptivac -p when pregnant then the lambs have a follow up dose of Ovivac (its gentler on the lambs than a second dose of hept -p.)
Through the summer all the sheep are wormed and in August  :raining:I start fluke treatment every 6weeks. Our area is very bad for Fluke. I had a case of Acute Fluke 2 years ago in a Soay gimmer as I had been using Combinex and have since stopped using a joint fluke and worm (as my vet informed me one dose will be weaker than the other so I had a good wormer but bad fluke dose)This year I also used Crovec to try and stop the midges pestering the sheep through the summer instead of spot on which is just for ticks Although all my soays seem to be very tick resistant even on the soft skin under there legs. If you wanted to stay away from your crovecs and clicks I do like Garlic supalyx to prevent flies and midges.Some data suggests it reduces worm burdens too. And  my girls love it

In the last six months I have started to use FEC tests for the sheep and I find them amazing they enable you to pick a drench or injection to target your specific worm burden. The tests are about £10 a time but you save buying the wrong wormers and it gives piece of mind.  As a result of testing I have used an injectable wormer for the first time and im waiting to see how things go the girls are covered for worms for 3months, (with a 3 month withdrawal period) hopefully preventing reinfection and reducing the pasture burden. Maybe you could change the company who does your FEC's and see if you get different results??

Theres lots of data online to spend fun hours filtering through try the SCOPS website for parasite control. Good luck I hope everything works out well for you.

[Plas Nant]

Thanks Sheepcrazy and everyone else. With your help and the vet on the case I'm getting somewhere now. Just awaiting the results of the FEC tests to see where we go next. In the meantime they've had the Heptavac P and also Trodax although fluke hasn't been diagnosed yet, it seems likely it will.