A faecal egg test for fluke will only show eggs if you have adult fluke. If the copra antigen test has shown no challenge from fluke, there shouldn't be any fluke to lay eggs.
Copra antigen again in a month?
If there's a cold snap, the fluke stop being picked up by the sheep I think, so no more immatures to deal with, hence the normal advice to use TBZ for juveniles in teh Autumn, then follow up with Closantel, Trodax, etc to kill adults later.
I know of a couple of folk that have had experienced problems over the last year or so in sheep that has been attributed to rumen fluke (after testing with their vets). Maybe it's something we should be considering?
I had ewes that appeared 'flukey' in the Spring, but came back negative to copra antigen. We discussed rumen fluke, but didn't go any further to testing. As I was going to use a yellow drench at lambing, I opted to use Levafas Diamond, which would clear any rumen fluke too, and the sheep certainly picked up after drenching.
I'm certainly interested in investigating further this year.
According to the FW article, the eggs don't hatch <10C. But once hatched and in the mud snail host, fluke may overwinter in the snails.The 'season' for liver fluke depends on the weather. In the wet, mild winter of 2012/3, it never stopped, meaning huge numbers of eggs were carried over into the next year as well.
, and told me (IIRC) they'd lost a few, then treated with Oxyclosanide after vet investigations. Losses stopped and the sheep improved in condition. I think they'd already been treated for liver fluke previously and he's smart enough not to be throwing drugs around randomly.
