Author Topic: Worming?? (Read 5102 times)

Hillview Farm · « **on:** December 13, 2012, 12:22:23 pm »

Hello all

I'm new to owning sheep but have experience with sheep but not worming. I bought 6 suffolk mule shearlings in september. They were wormed at the start of sept by the last owner.

When do I need to worm my girls?
How often?
And what is the best wormer to buy?

Thankss

lachlanandmarcus · « **Reply #1 on:** December 13, 2012, 12:59:31 pm »

I have to admit that I dont worm unless its a new animal or unless there are any symptoms. The only routine treatment I do is heptavac P+ for the pregnant ladies and lambs. However we do have quite a low stocking rate and rotate the sheep and horses round which helps to prevent worm burden.

Hillview Farm · « **Reply #2 on:** December 13, 2012, 01:06:42 pm »

There is no symptons and are on grazing that has never had sheep and not grazed by our cattle for years! They are on Heptavac P+. They are in the barn now as the ground is very wet and they were starting to go lame.

SteveHants · « **Reply #3 on:** December 13, 2012, 01:54:09 pm »

in the worm season (which is coming to an end) I would have fecal egg counts done every 8 weeks and worm according to results.

If you have a decent vet, this should be cheap. What you want the to ask for is 5+ small samples which they will then amalgamate to do a worm count for the whole flock - if a vet asks for one large blob of dung they are not doing it properly, unless they are sticking said blob in a blender, which I doubt. Normally costs £4-6 which is a darn sight cheaper than buying wormers.

If your ground is wet, I would do them for fluke nowish - this is the worst year for fluke in the last 100. Use a flukicide only - Triclabenzadole is probably best - try triclafas. Combined wormers and flukicides are not great, but are useful if you are restricted in when you can gather.

Hillview Farm · « **Reply #4 on:** December 13, 2012, 06:13:58 pm »

Thank you, how long do these wormers last? As I only have a few I dont want to use it once and have to ditch the rest

SteveHants · « **Reply #5 on:** December 13, 2012, 11:34:13 pm »

They usually have fairly long shelf lives - a year or more.

smee2012 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 13, 2012, 11:48:17 pm »

Sorry to jump on your post, Rachel, but I was just wondering about the fluke treatment mentioned. I have been umming and ahhhing about whether to treat my ewe lambs or not. The ground has been appallingly wet, as we know. My girls are looking well, rather enormous in fact, and they are the first animals to have ever grazed on our land, at least for the last 30 or more years as it's been used for crops for decades.

I don't really like to shove medications down throats unnecessarily so should I treat them or not? We should be getting the meat back from the boys tomorrow so I was figuring that I could simply ask the butcher how their livers looked (the lambs' livers, not their own) and judge it like that. Is fluke infection obvious without cutting into the liver, as we have asked for them back so that I can make pate.

Rosemary · « **Reply #7 on:** December 14, 2012, 08:49:45 am »

Best to check with your vet, smee2012. He will know what things are like in your area - the butcher's report will help though.

We worm ours routinely at lambing and test otherwise but we fluke routinely at lambing and in the autumn.

Rachel, your vet may be able to split a pack of wormer / flukicide and give your enough for your few sheep. Our vet does that.

SteveHants · « **Reply #8 on:** December 14, 2012, 06:05:53 pm »

Quote from: smee2012 on December 13, 2012, 11:48:17 pm

Sorry to jump on your post, Rachel, but I was just wondering about the fluke treatment mentioned. I have been umming and ahhhing about whether to treat my ewe lambs or not. The ground has been appallingly wet, as we know. My girls are looking well, rather enormous in fact, and they are the first animals to have ever grazed on our land, at least for the last 30 or more years as it's been used for crops for decades.

I don't really like to shove medications down throats unnecessarily so should I treat them or not? We should be getting the meat back from the boys tomorrow so I was figuring that I could simply ask the butcher how their livers looked (the lambs' livers, not their own) and judge it like that. Is fluke infection obvious without cutting into the liver, as we have asked for them back so that I can make pate.

Bear in mind that this year, fluke is appearing in places it is unheard of. If your ground is wet, I would be tempted to do it

smee2012 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 15, 2012, 07:59:20 pm »

Yes, I shall be doing it next week. The butchers managed to lose our livers

but they weren't condemned but I think I'd rather be safe than sorry!

goosepimple · « **Reply #10 on:** December 15, 2012, 08:45:08 pm »

My vet questioned my wormin our sheep - we only have 9 mixed flock, but he said on such small numbers it wasn't worth it, I did it anyway but it's probably worth a rethink if I speak to him again.

May do fluke though after what you are all saying.

Dans · « **Reply #11 on:** December 20, 2012, 02:31:20 am »

Quote from: smee2012 on December 13, 2012, 11:48:17 pm

I don't really like to shove medications down throats unnecessarily so should I treat them or not? We should be getting the meat back from the boys tomorrow so I was figuring that I could simply ask the butcher how their livers looked (the lambs' livers, not their own) and judge it like that. Is fluke infection obvious without cutting into the liver, as we have asked for them back so that I can make pate.

You can sometimes tell if there has been a lot of damage to the liver from fluke without cutting in to it (see picture on this page http://www.arc.agric.za/home.asp?pid=3985) but not always. It tends to be if you had a lot of immature fluke at once they cause a lot of damage. But if it was more of a trickle it may not be obvious from the outside. If you're concerned ask your vet for faecal egg count

Dans

Bionic · « **Reply #12 on:** December 20, 2012, 07:57:14 am »

I am new to sheep keeping, having only had my sheep from mid year and they were wormed before I got them. I spoke to the vet and bearing in mind that this may change depending on your location -
* worms - don't worm them again this year. In the spring have an egg count done and then worm if necessary according to their recommendations at the time.
* fluke - it has been very bad this year because of the wet weather so they should be done. Use Tribex or Fasinex. Fasinex was the one particularly recommended.
As I only have 5 sheep meds work out expensive and my vets doesn't split packs as they end up left with some themselves and therefore out of pocket. Having said that she checked the Fasinex they had at the surgery and its shelf life is until 2016.
I rang the manufacturers yesterday to ask if the shelf life was the same once opened and they didn't know???. They are going to find out and ring me back.
If your vet doesn't splits packs, like mine, ask them to start a register to see if there is any other interest. It may not help this time round but might in the future. My vet agreed to do this yesterday.
Sally

Polished Arrow · « **Reply #13 on:** December 20, 2012, 09:11:58 am »

Sally, I assume that you are talking about an injectable wormer? I am just wondering how that would be split up - do you mean into smaller bottles? Going through my mind is the possibility of doing a share with folk on here, but I don't know how we'd do it with the bottles. They have those clever rubber tops that you can pop a needle through but it doesn't spill. Or do you use something different?

We have ours worm-counted - for Liver fluke and others (2 separate tests). The last test was completely negative, so we only did some newbies from our neighbour who is more intensive than we are.

Bionic · « **Reply #14 on:** December 20, 2012, 09:15:29 am »

PA, as I haven't yet given a wormer I don't know how its administered. I hadn't even thought of the logistics of sharing. The Fasinex for fluke is a drench so I guess it would just be measured out into another bottle.
Sally