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. 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?
Topic: Lung Worm (Read 6296 times)
