[Chris H]

I have read that I need to treat for fluke at the end of this month? I assume I am in a fluke area as the local vet sells all the stuff?? is it always as a drench? I have not drenched a sheep before and it looks a bit scary, any advice please. I do not have anyone local with sheep to show me and I want to get it right.

[supplies for smallholders]

Drenching is quite straight forward really.

The way I tend to do ut is :

Set up your drench gun to the required dose and make sure the cylinder is full.

Put the sheep in a position where it wont struggle (between your knees with its legs pointing away from you sat on its backside)

Coax the nozzle of the gun into the side of the mouth and ensure that the end of the nozzle goes to the back of the mouth.

Gently and slowly squeeze out the measured volume of drench keeping an eye and ear on the sheep to make sure that it is swallowing and that you are not dosing too fast.

Thanks

[shep53]

Would it not be cheaper to take a faeces sample to be tested for fluke eggs, if you have fluke in your sheep then there should be signs of illness or deaths by now

[supplies for smallholders]

An FEC would only show fluke if:

a: you requested the test for fluke (as the solution used is different than for other worms)
b: If the Fluke were in the egg laying stage of their development - otherwise the test would show a clean result

Thanks

[Chris H]

I thought you drenched for fluke at the end of Jan what ever? getting confused

[shep53]

NO you treat to kill any fluke in the liver, in my case starting in august then every 7/8 weeks until late spring

[goosepimple]

Chris I got poo tested and it's negative and too low on worms to give wormer.  That's easier but a bit more expensive.  You could always measure out an amount in a syringe but administer it via a turkey baster if you don't want your fingers too near those jaggy jaws 

[Chris H]

Jaggy jaws what do you have sharks? I am sending away poo so maybe no need, as a newbe there does seem to be a lot of conflicting infomation with sheep

[Rosemary]

Faecal egg counts are not reliable indicators of the presence of fluke. A nil result doesn't mean there's no fluke, it just means that the fluke are not excreting worms at that time.

The best person to advise on when to give a flukicide is your vet because the fluke problem varies from area to area and year to year.

We routinely fluke before tupping and at lambing, when the ewes have lambed but before they are turned out with the lambs.

I have always drenched sheep in the standing position - you should never drench sheep that you have turned as they are more likely to choke.

[goosepimple]

Rosemary, that is news to me about the presence of fluke, I'm going to get onto my vet about that, he hasn't mentioned that to me which I am thinking is a bit irrisponsible, he knows I am anxious about getting it all right so I'm a bit annoyed to be honest.
 
Like you Helen, just anxious to get it right and there seems to be so much to do for sheep or at least it seems that way, probably once you're into a routine it's fine.  It's finding the routine.  I did ask my vet last week if he could let me know what to do regularly and when but he hasn't come back to me.

[MarvinH]

Hello Chris, I would fluke now. and If ? your uncertain of drenching / giving injections etc it might be worth your while having the vet out to show you. Yes it would cost you more but invaluble info. Good luck with your sheep.

[Dans]

All good info.

Rosemary and SfS are right, you'll only get eggs in a faecal egg count if 1) you ask them to look for eggs (it's a different test to nematodes) 2) the fluke are old enough to lay eggs (9 weeks and up) and 3) if there are eggs in the bit of faeces they test (fluke eggs aren't shed evenly).

So you can get a negative egg count and have your animals still have fluke in them. If you ask vets or farmers in your area if they have fluke it will help you know if you need to treat. If this is your first time dosing for fluke it may be worth you asking for a faecal egg count before and after dosing. If you do have a positive egg count before treatment then your post treatment egg count will tell you how well your drug worked.

Shep is right that you should dose to kill any fluke that are there, but I think the stance of dose regularly for fluke has come about because it is so hard to be sure that the fluke are there and if you assume they aren't you can have dead sheep on your hands due to acute fluke (lots of young fluke all at once, before the fluke are old enough to lay eggs).

I've only had to dose sheep the once, we did it with 2 people, 1 holding 1 dosing. There was a nice bit of gum towards the back of the mouth you could put your finger in to open the mouth and place the syringe (what we were using), depressed it slowly and kept the head up so they didn't spit it.

Good luck!

Dans

[Susannah]

I have just taken poo samples to the vet to ask for egg counts and that I wanted them done for fluke too. I said about a negative result not being necessarily conclusive and was told that at this time of year it would be. If it is a negative result should I question what he previously told me? I suppose ask the reasoning at least.

[Dans]

Time of year will be his reasoning. You don't tend to get new infections at this time of year because the snails that carry the parasites aren't active. But the seasons have been getting odder so maybe the snails weren't chilled enough 9 weeks or less ago to not shed fluke. I'm afraid I don't know enough to say.

Dans

[SallyintNorth]

Eblex describe and show how to adminster a drench in their document Manual 8 - Target worm control for better returns, page 4.  Download it here  (Manual 8 )

I appreciate that it's difficult to get hold of small amounts of drench for very small flocks but would urge everyone to get their sheep fluked if they haven't already.  Your neighbourhood friendly farmer  will know if yours is a flukey area, if there have been more fluke this year and when to drench; if you ask nicely s/he'll probably come and drench yours for you and show you how it's done.

Hereabouts everyone drenches every 6-8 weeks from Octoberish through to Marchish.  But this year the fluke have been active all year; we had an abattoir report of fluke in the livers of 26/29 lambs we sent away mid-August, so for now we are drenching year round.