[Tracy mayoh]

Advice needed...
I have 4 ryeland sheep do I need to treat for cases of liver fluke to prevent them becoming poorly ?
Do you all treat against liver fluke ?

[crobertson]

I treat mine 3 times over winter, pre tupping in october (treating for early immature fluke), end of January (treating for immature fluke) and and then again just before the girls get turned out end of March after lambing (treating for adult fluke).

There are different fluke treatments to cover the different stage of fluke throughout their life cycle. I use a triclabendazole based flukicide for the first 2 treatments such as Tribex (cost about £45 for 2.2 litres and works out about 30-40p each per dose) and for the final one I use an wormer that covers adult fluke such as Rycoben.

It'd be worth speaking to your vet to see whether you're in an area at risk of fluke and if they could just supply you with 4 doses each time rather than buying a bottle. We've never had a liver problem but for 30p each I'd rather be safe than sorry as we've had a lot of rain this year and they're in a field near water / ponds.  The NADIS and SCOPS website provide some good info !

Hope this helps !! Still learning ourselves

[twizzel]

We do but we have history of fluke on our farm. Treated with fasinex pre tupping in September and will treat again in December and again when they have lambed. You can FEC for fluke but it doesn't pick up early immature fluke. Best speak to your vet for advice on your area and risk.

[bj_cardiff]

I think it depends on your land and your sheep. If your new to sheep keeping I'd err on the side of caution and treat them. Ask around neighbouring farmers to see how much of a problem fluke is in your area.

[shep53]

Totally depends on your land , speak to your vet as you can take bloods to check for fluke .  I have severe fluke and all my sheep have been treated twice already but my nearest neighbour has no fluke at all .

[Rosemary]

Totally depends on your land , speak to your vet as you can take bloods to check for fluke .  I have severe fluke and all my sheep have been treated twice already but my nearest neighbour has no fluke at all .

None that he tells you about 

[shep53]

I have no reason to doubt him , all his land is on a slope with no wet areas and my open hill ground has no fluke ,my worst fields are ones with a flat area at the bottom of a slope so water collects .  The farm that I buy my highland cattle from also has no fluke on the open hill .  I know of farms that up until 10yrs or so ago had no fluke and now have a problem , buying in stock with fluke and grazing rented ground plus wetter winters

[Marches Farmer]

The current SCOPS guidelines recommend giving a flukicide to all bought-in animals and keeping them on dry (preferably quarantine) pasture for 4 weeks, to stop fluke coming onto a fluke-free farm. 

[shep53]

While this is solid advice ,which flukicide do you use ? when I sell store lambs then  I tell buyers not to use fasinex as I have resistance  but neither of the 2 alternatives kill early immature flukes , so killing and clearing all fluke on bought in sheep is not clear cut .  Buying sheep in early summer and treating  for adult fluke    with any of the 3 main flukicides  and then repeat in 6wks with  a different one ,would probably give you the best chance .

[Marches Farmer]

Triclabendazole (fasinex/Endofluke)is the only one that kills all stages, but some resistance has been reported.  As I understand it Nitroxynil (Trodax) and Closantel (Closamectin) are 50-90% effective on fluke 7 to 9 weeks old and 100% effective on older fluke, whereas L=Albendazole (Albex/Endospec) and Oxyclosanide (Zanil) are only effective on mature fluke - 50-90% on fluke 9 to 11 weeks old and 100% thereafter..

[shep53]

TRiclabendazole/  FASINEX resistance is becoming a wide spread problem nationally due to the fact it is the best flukicide   so is used constantly  along with COMBINEX and even these products do not kill newly hatched fluke .    Marches you may want to edit the very last line after mature fluke as this is all these products kill

[Tracy mayoh]

Excellent I've just bought TriBex 5% how do I know how much my 10 month old ryelands weigh for dosage purposes  ?

[shep53]

Bathroom scale weigh you then pick up biggest lamb and weigh both of you

[Womble]

You can FEC for fluke but it doesn't pick up early immature fluke. Best speak to your vet for advice on your area and risk.

Our vet told us that there is also a blood test now which will tell you if the animal has been exposed to fluke (I think it's some sort of immune response test, but I could be wrong).

I was leaving a tup hogg un-dosed this summer so that we could then have him tested to see if we have fluke or not. Unfortunately he turned into an aggressive little ****, so we ate him instead  .

[gerpsych]

Hi, I have just treated a ram lamb for fluke (with combinex). He has stopped scouring but is still very weak 4 days later. He hangs back at feeds and never goes to the lick. Is there anything I can give, such as a tonic, or is there something else I should try.

Cheers