[smallflockshearing]

Hello all, just wondering what others do about worming when they have a small flock that doesn't warrant the cost of FEC to target.  Do you worm on a regular schedule rotating groups, worm only scouring sheep, worm the whole flock for odd scourers, rotate paddocks?  I've a small closed flock that has fared really well this year for scouring (helped by dry conditions no doubt), and am wondering whether they have a level of resistance that I don't want to damage by cleaning their guts out.

[ScotsGirl]

I don't think the FEC is expensive compared with cost of worming. I always do one or two checks a year and only worm mucky bums and post lambing.

[Bionic]

I only have a small flock of 8 but still think it's worth the cost of a fec. I did it when I only had 5 ewes too. The  last count turned out to be negative so I haven't needed to worm at all this time round. I think it's worth it for the peace of mind.

[mowhaugh]

Agree - FEC definitely worth it, not just for now, but for the future, hopefully prolonging the time until there are no effective worming products.

[Rosemary]

We worm routinely after lambing, when any worms cash in on the ewes stress and lay lots of eggs and fec before tupping. Lambs we test a couple of times -showed up a tapeworm problem this year and most wormers don't kill tapeworm.

[devonlad]

We generally worm and fluke ewes and tup as part of pre tupping mot 6 weeks before he goes in. Other than that we'll fec prolonged mucky  bums and treat accordingly.  Rotation is key. When we started with one big field it was impossible not to be drenching regularly.  Now we have 5 options for smaller paddocks much easier to avoid worm issues without too much chemicals

[Rosemary]

I agree; we have five paddocks here and five at our rented grazing ; wherever they are we move them each week and that has helped enormously. We also graze cattle and the ponies too.

[Bionic]

We have split our 2 acres into 5 and rotate our sheep weekly too. I think that is the reason our fec came back negative 

[Rosemary]

Just always remember with fec that a negative for fluke can be a false negative - fluke don't shed eggs all the time so you can have fluke without it showing in an fec.

[Bionic]

Thanks Rosemary. We have fluke drenched but not wormed so hopefully all ok 

[OhLaLa]

We worm the whole flock after lambing, and regularly rotate paddocks.
 

[Foobar]

For ewes (and the ram) I worm with Cydectin LA pre lambing which provides several weeks of persistence, thus reduces worm egg output over the lambing period.  Also provides their annual scab treatment (which I used to do in autumn, but didn't see the point in giving them the wormer part in autumn when they didn't need it) (and I don't have a scab problem, I'm just wanting to protect myself from possible diseases from neighbours ).
The lambs I would worm only when required - either scouring or FEC.  I wouldn't bother FECing the ewes as it has always come up blank so far.  The first couple of times I worm, I would worm all the lambs, from then on it would be only individual animals. I go by the Nadis forecast too to see when the highest risk periods are.  I'm working on reducing this by not keeping any individual lambs that scour on more than one occassion.
Worm for tapeworm only if I see tape segments in faeces, usually around May time.  This white wormer dose would count as one of the whole-lamb-flock dosings.  The other whole-lamb-flock dose would be a different sort of wormer, clear most likely, or yellow.
I fluke everything regularly from Sept/Oct to May as I'm in a wet/risky area.
Rotationally grazed all year.