[Hillview Farm]

Lucky you, Mine charged £35 for 2 counts......

[SteveHants]

That is ridiculous. Try and find a proper ag vet asap.

[Dougal]

On spring grass you shouldn't needto dose the ewes, the high protein levels in the grass are known to inhibit the bind between the parasite and the gut lining so you can wait until the lambs are a month old and dose the ewes then if they need. Often see dirty bums at this time but tha is usually caused by fresh grass going through the ewes. I would dose for Fluke in the back end. September into October. Fasinex is the cheaest fluke drench I've seen. Combinex is a white drench which incorporates fasinex. I'd recommend it, almost a industry standard product. Not cheap but works a treat. The only clear (Ivemectin based) treatment I know of is Closamectin. It is an injection but only kills 2 stages of the fluke life cycle but has a shorter withdrawl period (28 days where fasinex and combinex are usually 56 days) which can be useful. Hope this helps.
 

[Hillview Farm]

My vet is very good and proper thank you! The only other vet around here I dont nor like due to treatment with a cow but thats another story. Plus I can get another vet as I have to use the vet thats registered to the farm due to me not owning it.

[SallyintNorth]

I think we must all be wary of dishing out advice which suits our own area and could be interpreted as being generally applicable.

Hereabouts, in Cumbria, there is currently no time of year when we do not need to treat for fluke.  We had active fluke in lambs in August last year - it was so wet and cold all year, they never took a break.

There are a lot of reports of triclabendazole, the flukicide in Fasinex and in Combinex, becoming ineffective.  Certainly we have had batches of ewes we have needed to treat with other flukicides in order to get them healthy.  It could be that it's been such an extraordinary year and the fluke have gained ground, or it could be that there is some resistance developing.

The flukicide in Closamectin for Sheep is closantel, which is also in Flukiver, Mebadown and Superverm. 

Combinex looks white but the wormer in Combinex is Levamisole, which is a yellow drench. 

Download yourself a copy of the BRP Parasite Control Guide; the reference tables at the back are bloomin' priceless!   

Get yourself some of the Eblex Better Returns Programme (BRP) guides.

Download them here

Read "Manual 8 - Target Worm Control..." first, then the "Booklet - Parasite Control Guide" which gives you a lookup table of which meds has which active ingredient.

[SteveHants]

My vet is very good and proper thank you! The only other vet around here I dont nor like due to treatment with a cow but thats another story. Plus I can get another vet as I have to use the vet thats registered to the farm due to me not owning it.

No you don't - you can use any vet you like. You are legally responsible for the animals, you can chose your vetenarian.

[Hillview Farm]

I simply asked for wormers to use. Not a debate on my vets. Thank you

[Rosemary]

I simply asked for wormers to use. Not a debate on my vets. Thank you

Um, to be fair, you did express (as I read it) a certain pissedoffedness with the cost of your worm count then implied that you couldn't change your vet.

Steve was simply clarifying that you can change your vet if you want to. 

[SteveHants]

And - doing FECs is central to a good worming regime - have a look at the SCOPS website: http://www.scops.org.uk/


Most counts cost £4-6ish. You can, of course do your own, but you'll need a microscope and a macmaster slide...

[Bionic]

Hillview Farm, my vets does a reduced price at a particular time in the spring for FEC when most people are doing it. You may want to enquire if yours has a similar scheme

[Hillview Farm]

I wasn't pissed off at all. Peace of mind was worth it, I simply stated that I cannot change.my vet. I keep them at the farm I work on, as I dont have a holding number etc they are registered to the farm and not me. We also calf rear on behalf of someone who uses a different vet and when calling his vet they refused as our farm is not covered by them.... I paid for the sheep but legally I am not the keeper!

[Hillview Farm]

Thank you bionic I will look into that!

[SteveHants]

I wasn't pissed off at all. Peace of mind was worth it, I simply stated that I cannot change.my vet. I keep them at the farm I work on, as I dont have a holding number etc they are registered to the farm and not me. We also calf rear on behalf of someone who uses a different vet and when calling his vet they refused as our farm is not covered by them.... I paid for the sheep but legally I am not the keeper!

They refused? Blimey - most vets I know would be round like a shot if they thought they could poach gain a new customer.

[Hillview Farm]

Like I said, I just wanted to know about wormers. I'm happy with my vet....

[Foobar]

Read the NADIS Parasite forecast monthly too, they have one for each of the regional areas in the UK.  Provides excellent advice on what is going on in your area with respect to the current weather conditions, covering fluke and worms and anything else of concern.
http://www.nadis.org.uk/