[Slimjim]

At what age/weight is it advisable to worm lambs?

[suziequeue]

We were advised by our vet to worm for nematodirus at four and eight weeks. No FEC required as nematodirus infections will not show up in the poo

[landroverroy]

Nematodirus should not be a problem if your lambs are on grass not grazed by lambs in the previous year, or if you have since then had other species eg equines, cattle grazing the land.
Otherwise, you can do a FEC, worm at about 6 weeks, ( give or take according to your age spread)  or sooner if the lambs seem to be losing their bloom. 

[Marches Farmer]

Check out the SCOPS website for the latest info on worming.

[twizzel]

We combined fluke and worm in late May- the withdrawal then finishes by the time the first few are ready to kill.

[suziequeue]

Nematodirus should not be a problem if your lambs are on grass not grazed by lambs in the previous year, or if you have since then had other species eg equines, cattle grazing the land.
Otherwise, you can do a FEC, worm at about 6 weeks, ( give or take according to your age spread)  or sooner if the lambs seem to be losing their bloom.

The biggest issue with lambs is Nematodirus.




Nematodirus does not show up in FEC. That's the problem. By the time eggs from Nematodirus show up on FEC, the gut has already undergone permanent damage which will seriously affect the lamb's conversion ratio for life.  FEC is great for other things and obviously one wants to keep the worm burden in lambs low, but Nematodirus is the big issue for them when they start nibbling grass.


But that's only my vet telling me that.

[fsmnutter]

Nematodirus should not be a problem if your lambs are on grass not grazed by lambs in the previous year, or if you have since then had other species eg equines, cattle grazing the land.
Otherwise, you can do a FEC, worm at about 6 weeks, ( give or take according to your age spread)  or sooner if the lambs seem to be losing their bloom.

The biggest issue with lambs is Nematodirus.




Nematodirus does not show up in FEC. That's the problem. By the time eggs from Nematodirus show up on FEC, the gut has already undergone permanent damage which will seriously affect the lamb's conversion ratio for life.  FEC is great for other things and obviously one wants to keep the worm burden in lambs low, but Nematodirus is the big issue for them when they start nibbling grass.


But that's only my vet telling me that.

This is a pretty good description, but nematodirus risk varies on cleanliness of pasture as explained by landroverroy, and highly dependent on weather, if the temperature and rainfall are ideal for hatching when lambs are starting to eat grass, this can be a big problem, if its cold for a long time, the hatch is slower and less risky for lambs.
Ask your vet what the risk is likely to be for your farm every year before spring, and look at the nematodirus forecast on the scope website to decide when and if nematodirus is sufficient risk to warrant worming.
Hope that helps.

[Womble]

Hmmm, I tried looking up the SCOPS forecast the other day, but could only find information about 2013. Does anybody have the proper link?

We lost lambs to suspected Nematodirus last year, which must have come from our neighbour's sheep when they rented the grazing the previous year. Four weeks seems very early to be worming though. Is that what everybody else does?

[twizzel]

Spoke to our vet this morning and she mentioned the delayed hatch this spring due to cold weather- the eggs will hatch now so will be a risk to lambs grazing. See this link below for further info, we will treat all our lambs with combinex within the next couple of weeks
http://www.nadis.org.uk/parasite-forecast.aspx

[suziequeue]

Is that what everybody else does?

 


Of COURSE not Womble. We will all be doing different things for different reasons. These threads can end up as long as a sheep tapeworm as a result 


We definitely have problems with Nematodirus on our pasture I am sure and the SCOPS website alerts tell of risk levels increasing although mainly south of a line from The Wash to the Bristol Channel.


www.scops.org.uk/alerts-detail.php?AlertID=52

[fsmnutter]

On the scops website, the button on the left labelled "latest" has a drop down menu with the nematodirus forecast.

[Womble]

Perfect, thanks folks!