[threelittlesheep]

In a bit of a dither and would appreciate some advice!

Ewes FEC report from Mole Valley from samples taken on 1st April shows strongyle - 250 epg, Nematodirus - less than 50 and Coccidial Oocysts - 300 epg.

Lambs are now aged between 3.5 weeks and 6 weeks.

They are Southdowns and ewes and lambs are all in good health and clean behind. They have been on current pasture for 5 weeks and nothing has been wormed yet.

Do I need to worm? I am keen to move them on to new pasture before grass gets away with us but am aware I should worm onto dirty pasture. I can wait another week so the question is, if I do worm, should I use something like Rycoben that I have in, or an alternative, eg Vexocan given the Cocci risks at this time of the year. Would I be best to get a FEC report on the lambs first?

Current pasture was used by last year's lambs. FEC counts on last year's lambs were all low when tested last autumn.

Thank you.

[Hellybee]

From what I learnt from our vet the worms would allow  cocci to have a party so to speak, if that makes sense, so we would worm first

[Marches Farmer]

If on your turnout field last year the nematodirus hatch will be getting into gear right now.  By the time you see a mucky backside a lot of damage has already been done.  I follow SCOPS guidelines on switching wormer groups and turnout fields and overall I tend to view worming in much the same light as vaccination - better safe than sorry.  The way to reduce wormer resistance would be to make FEC kit much cheaper and give free farmer training.