Author Topic: worming sheep (Read 4972 times)

Cjnewton82 · « **on:** February 16, 2014, 06:20:53 pm »

I'm getting ready to worm the sheep in the spring but I'm not sure which wormer to use i would like some thing that kills every thing including all ages of fluck, but I'm sure there is no such thing!!so im sure i will need two. i only have 5 sheep non are in lamb (if that make a difference and i don't plan to slaughter any of them anytime Soon) some recommendations on of produces names would be great

fsmnutter · « **Reply #1 on:** February 16, 2014, 06:29:45 pm »

If you have a few sheep that are not lambs, nor going through the stress of lambing, you may not need to worm. It would be worth doing a worm egg count on a faecal sample, talk to your vet to see if they can do this for you, it is not usually very expensive, though i have heard some on here have been charged a lot by their vets, so may be worth buying a home testing kit. If worm burden is low, not worming will give better chance of keeping wormer resistance at bay for longer.
Now is a good time to clear out the fluke, triclabendazole is the drug that kills all stages, providing you have no resistance. Many products have this in, so see what your vet or agri store sells.
Hope that helps
Suzanne

Me · « **Reply #2 on:** February 16, 2014, 06:39:58 pm »

Trodax and other non-Triclabendazole based alternatives also available

Tim W · « **Reply #3 on:** February 16, 2014, 07:24:30 pm »

Kill most worms? Try Zolvic and an ivermectin, that's what I use when I buy in animals

However , if you put the sheep back out onto the same ground or onto ground that has had sheep on it in the last year you will just be exposing the animals to the same worms all over again

Best idea (if they need treating) is to treat them and 24 hrs later move them to clean grazing (land that has had no sheep on for at least a year) that way they shouldn't get re-infected immediately

fsmnutter · « **Reply #4 on:** February 16, 2014, 07:34:36 pm »

Modern thinking is that if you move freshly wormed animals to clean grazing, all that passes through could be resistant worms, so the whole pasture could be contaminated then with very resistant worms if using like this. If wormed and put on used pasture, there are likely non-resistant worms in the ground, which the sheep will eat. Then inside the sheep, the non-resistant worms will overrun the resistant worms, so next time it comes to worming them, only a small number will be resistant and the wormer will continue to work.
Take a look at scops online, there is a lot more on how this works
I would have a chat to your local vet to see if they need worming at all, and how best to do it for a small number, as i mentioned before, a poo sample is well worth a few quid instead of worming!

Tim W · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2014, 08:03:43 pm »

Agree fsmnutter ---that's why you put them on dirty pasture for 24 hrs before moving then onto the clean

MarvinH · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2014, 08:39:38 pm »

Kills worms - startect
Kills fluke - Endofluke

moprabbit · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2014, 09:35:59 pm »

Lots of interesting replies to this post. The last time I had my vet in to see my sheep, he said to keep an eye open for fluke with this very wet weather. If I do a FEC do all the stages of fluke show up?
If nothing shows is it best NOT to worm them for fluke - or is there something to prevent fluke?
Thank you

Me · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2014, 10:01:36 pm »

You need a large sample to find fluke eggs and young fluke will not be old enough to have made any eggs. If there were no fluke and you treated it would do no harm.
It is hard to prevent fluke, you can fence off wet areas if you live on a dry farm but if you live in the West...

highhorse · « **Reply #9 on:** February 18, 2014, 04:03:58 pm »

i too have a few sheep. my vet advised using combinex sheep which apparantly does everything and dosing them with it every 2 months.

plus rotating pasture, not overgrazing etc.

my sheep graze alongside horses as well.

the worm count thing sounds interesting, is it effective?

x

Me · « **Reply #10 on:** February 18, 2014, 05:02:51 pm »

FECs give really useful information, you may not need to worm - horses very rarely need worming but they get it anyway! Costs a fortune.
Relying only on Combinex every 8 weeks isn't best practice - though I can understand the practicalities when you have only a small number of sheep, ask your vet maybe to do a FEC and have a chat to you about worming?

Ladygrey · « **Reply #11 on:** February 18, 2014, 05:20:38 pm »

I only worm once or twice a year, otherwise the ewes can never really build up any resistance..

I do lambs at weaning time, dont know if this is right or not.. but seems to work and less money consuming!

when they are on my land in stroud with 3 rivers running through then they get fluked as its a bit wet