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Author Topic: Liver fluke- help please asap  (Read 4985 times)

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Liver fluke- help please asap
« on: July 18, 2012, 11:32:49 am »
I could do with some advice asap please. We have 11 orphan lambs on the farm of varying ages, the 8 youngest are 4 months old, oldest about 6 months. 6 belong to my boyfriend and I, the other 5 to his sister. Bit of background, our 6 were all jabbed twice with Heptavac and been lamlac reared creep fed, now out on grass with creep offered every other day. The other 5 were not Heptavac'd, been fed mixture of corn and some creep and reared predominantly on cow milk replacer and now out at grass with no creep.


All are eating and drinking well, the 6 that were reared on lamlac and jabbed are thriving compared to the other 5 that are taking a bit longer to mature. Unbeknown to me the 2 lambs boyfriend's sister had last year had liver fluke according to the slaughterer, I only found that out yesterday. They all seem breathless though when we bring them in even when it's not hot, and someone has suggested treating for liver fluke and broad spectrum wormer.


What's the best course of action please?

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2012, 11:42:39 am »
If they aren't likely to go for slaughter soon, I'd be doing the 5 with Heptavac and doing them all for fluke. Just watch the withdrawal periods for the flukicide and wormer, if you have to use a wormer, as some are as long as 8 weeks.

Plus I'd be doing a faecal worm egg count to see if they need wormed - the test MIGHT show fluke, but it's not reliable for fluke as fluke eggs are shed periodically. So a negative result for fluke doesn't mean it's not there, just not shedding eggs.

For next year, I think I'd be asking OH's sister to take a wee bit more care over her lamb care  ;)

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2012, 11:45:42 am »
To be honest we had plenty of Heptavac for the other 5 but she declined to treat hers with it, we offered several times. Hence why our 6 were treated and hers weren't. 


We were aiming for slaughter in early September however depending on withdrawal period they can go slightly later.



Looking at flukicides there seem to be a lot available, which is the best broad spectrum one to go for? Fasimec Duo S looks fairly good?





Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2012, 12:07:47 pm »
I would be careful Hep'ing them now.  If they already have something then the stress of the vaccination could tip them over the edge.  I would consult with a vet before proceeding on any treatment.

I say this because I had a lamb that seemed to get out of puff quickly, before I had put two and two together it had dropped dead.  Post mortum was inconclusive, most likely a clostridial disease (ie one potentially preventable by Heptavac).  Vet said not to inject the others at that time in case they were already suffering from the same thing, it could kill them.  So i'm doing them all in the autumn (as I would usually do).

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2012, 12:22:46 pm »
Thing I'm stumped with is that they are all breathing heavily, not just the 5 that weren't heptavac'd, so don't see how it can be a clostridial disease. The other 6 were heptavac'd according to instructions 5 or 6 wks apart (whichever the leaflet says).


I'm thinking fasimec duo because it's treating liver fluke and lungworm or combinex because it treats liver fluke and parasitic bronchitis and gastroenteritis? Which treatment do you all use?

SteveHants

  • Joined Aug 2011
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2012, 12:57:35 pm »
Alamycin LA treats most of the colostridial diseases if they have them. Breathlessness could be pneumonia though, specially in this weather. Breatlessness is also a symptom of jaagsickte, although there is no test for it. Were it me, id worm/fluke em and see if they perk up. Whole flocks get pheumonia in a non-threatening way. If its that, they shouod all get it and it'll go away in a few days.

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2012, 01:21:25 pm »
Fasimec Duo seems a sensible choice at this moment, and lok at the withdrawal time. If your good doers may be getting too fat just reduce your concentrate to slow them down a bit.
 
Unless the non-vaccinated lambs do look unwell I would heptavac them now and again in 4 weeks time, especially if the withdrawal time on fasimec means that you need to keep a bit longer. I know that normal Fasinex is 56 days, so that is nearly two months.

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2012, 03:47:07 pm »
Thanks for your input everyone. We treated all 11 with Combinex this afternoon much to their disgust! The store didn't have fasimec duo, just the combinex. We won't be heptavac'ing the unvaccinated lambs, they are not ours and his sister has reared them completely differently ( using calf rearing milk powder as it is a lot cheaper, not feeding as much creep per head, corn feeding and no heptavac jab) so it is her choice whether to vaccinate them or not, we offered to go halves on the bottle we bought and she declined.


So will keep an eye on them, withdrawal is 56 days but we were in no hurry to send them off before that anyway :) Thanks all for your great advice.





Mallows Flock

  • Joined Apr 2012
  • Shepton mallet
    • Somerset Pet Sitting and Dog Walking
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #8 on: July 18, 2012, 05:52:59 pm »
I personally believe that sheep should never, ever be reared on Calf milk... not even the 'gold' option.... the fat, sugars and protein content is far too low for sheep and worst of all it contains a fair amount of copper. Cheaper rearing doesn't pay in the long run. Sheep will be poor do-ers longer and I am very surprised they are not showing signs of copper poisoning. I rear cades every year and start off with 5 bottle feeds a day, feed milk until they are 10-12 weeks of age and introduce as much creep as they want from the end of the first week as well as a slice of good quality meadow hay.
If they were mine and I was worried they had fluke, I would treat with Endofluke that kills fluke at all 3 stages and take a FEC to the vets for them to determine what wormer is needed and whether fluke is even present.
The silver lining in all this is that now you can see first hand the difference between quality rearing and low-cost rearing so you KNOW that what you are doing is definitely better than your sisters' method! :thumbsup:
 
From 3 to 30 and still flocking up!

shep53

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Dumfries & Galloway
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #9 on: July 18, 2012, 06:48:39 pm »
Endofluke  and  Combinex  have the same  chemical TRICLABENDAZOLE  just different drug manufactures

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Liver fluke- help please asap
« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2012, 06:52:42 pm »
I personally believe that sheep should never, ever be reared on Calf milk... not even the 'gold' option.... the fat, sugars and protein content is far too low for sheep and worst of all it contains a fair amount of copper. Cheaper rearing doesn't pay in the long run. Sheep will be poor do-ers longer and I am very surprised they are not showing signs of copper poisoning. I rear cades every year and start off with 5 bottle feeds a day, feed milk until they are 10-12 weeks of age and introduce as much creep as they want from the end of the first week as well as a slice of good quality meadow hay.
If they were mine and I was worried they had fluke, I would treat with Endofluke that kills fluke at all 3 stages and take a FEC to the vets for them to determine what wormer is needed and whether fluke is even present.
The silver lining in all this is that now you can see first hand the difference between quality rearing and low-cost rearing so you KNOW that what you are doing is definitely better than your sisters' method! :thumbsup:


Yes very much so... lamlac is for lambs and cow milk replacer is for cows, there's a reason behind that. We had 8 lambs from the same farm, 6 are ours and 2 are his sister's- the difference in not only size but build is quite astounding- ours are well covered, nice necks and bums, the other 2 seem to be a lot more rounded on the tummies and not so well covered anywhere else. We too had ours on 5 feeds a day, weaned them a lot earlier than the others on the cow milk replacer but they were eating ad lib creep and had access to hay too.


Ours will be ready to slaughter mid-late september, the other 2 probably looking at November in my opinion.




 
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