Faecal Egg Counts in Sheep

[Cymro8]

Running 300 organic ewes, now just moved onto rotanional paddock grazing after reducing field sizes. How often are other people are doing FEC samples? Previously on set stocked grazing fec samples done three times a year

 

[Woolless]

Once per month say? Depends what your first sample is like. I do them weekly over the danger period until they've had their first nematodirus dose.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Once per month say? Depends what your first sample is like. I do them weekly over the danger period until they've had their first nematodirus dose.

Surely by the time you have found any nematodirus eggs you are too late!!
The problem is always after that and can be an issue from 3 weeks if weather conditions are favourable for worms.
Luckily these long dry periods we get certainly reduce the worm burden.

 

[Tim W]

Running 300 organic ewes, now just moved onto rotanional paddock grazing after reducing field sizes. How often are other people are doing FEC samples? Previously on set stocked grazing fec samples done three times a year

I do lambs every week or so from 5 weeks old (ish) until just after weaning
Then maybe a bit less frequently...
But if you're on clean grazing then maybe your worm burden will be very low & you'll be confident/willing to take gamble?

Surely by the time you have found any nematodirus eggs you are too late!!

I FEC the ewes early in the season and only drench lambs for Nemo if i start seeing them in the ewe dung----theory being that early on the ewes are eating grass only whilst the lambs obviously have milk too, therefore the ewes act as an early warning system ---seems to work for me

 

[CopperBeech]

I do lambs every week or so from 5 weeks old (ish) until just after weaning
Then maybe a bit less frequently...
But if you're on clean grazing then maybe your worm burden will be very low & you'll be confident/willing to take gamble?

I FEC the ewes early in the season and only drench lambs for Nemo if i start seeing them in the ewe dung----theory being that early on the ewes are eating grass only whilst the lambs obviously have milk too, therefore the ewes act as an early warning system ---seems to work for me

Now that’s clever.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

I do lambs every week or so from 5 weeks old (ish) until just after weaning
Then maybe a bit less frequently...
But if you're on clean grazing then maybe your worm burden will be very low & you'll be confident/willing to take gamble?

I FEC the ewes early in the season and only drench lambs for Nemo if i start seeing them in the ewe dung----theory being that early on the ewes are eating grass only whilst the lambs obviously have milk too, therefore the ewes act as an early warning system ---seems to work for me

Tim
Very good thought process on testing the Ewes. It needs some research to see if that is an accurate indicator of nematodirus.
I will ask Moredun.

 

[Tim W]

Tim
Very good thought process on testing the Ewes. It needs some research to see if that is an accurate indicator of nematodirus.
I will ask Moredun.

Vets always tell me it's not a good way to go about deciding to worm or not
But I've been doing it this way for 12+ years and I'm still in business

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Vets always tell me it's not a good way to go about deciding to worm or not
But I've been doing it this way for 12+ years and I'm still in business

Sometimes Vets over think issues.
Research might actually change their minds!

 

[Woolless]

Surely by the time you have found any nematodirus eggs you are too late!!
The problem is always after that and can be an issue from 3 weeks if weather conditions are favourable for worms.
Luckily these long dry periods we get certainly reduce the worm burden.

Not necessarily. A learned vet friend of mine said to me that he's never seen a nematodirus outbreak without eggs in the dung. I FEC lambs from mid-may after they're mobbed up. Lost one lamb in seven years doing it that way.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Not necessarily. A learned vet friend of mine said to me that he's never seen a nematodirus outbreak without eggs in the dung. I FEC lambs from mid-may after they're mobbed up. Lost one lamb in seven years doing it that way.

Probably a climatic thing. Down here if you get a wet spring period (very rare these days) then you can get a very rapid outbreak well before you see nay eggs!!

 

[Woolless]

Probably a climatic thing. Down here if you get a wet spring period (very rare these days) then you can get a very rapid outbreak well before you see nay eggs!!

Possibly. Although I do egg counts, most years I would be worming them the last weekend in May. A lot earlier down there, presumably.

 

[Mc115reed]

Tend too not do my lambs at all, white wormer same time as heptavac at 6-8 weeks tends to be just as we’re hitting perfect nemo hatch, then again 3 weeks later then they’re generally dead before any other problems can occur.. ewe lambs and ewes get tested when ever the vets here for something I’ll send him back with a test… probably doing it all wrong but works for me lol

 

[neilo]

Probably a climatic thing. Down here if you get a wet spring period (very rare these days) then you can get a very rapid outbreak well before you see nay eggs!!

Agreed. It’s the mass hatches, with huge numbers of juvenile nematodirus worms at once, which cause huge losses. In that scenario you can be picking up dead lambs before any eggs are seen, in ewes or lambs.

Thankfully, those conditions & outbreaks are rare, but I could imagine it being pretty devastating.

Even the worst outbreaks I’ve seen have seen lambs going downhill rapidly, but eggs being present in significant numbers, so obviously not as bad as some people have seen.
My worst outbreak was last year, when I moved a bunch of March born lambs from clean(ish) ground to join a bigger mob on some dirtier ground. They obviously hadn’t had the challenge I thought they’d had and they went rapidly downhill. They had a mob FEC sample of 1500 epg, all nemo, and I treated them with a white wormer and returned them to the same ground, expecting to have to redrench them a week or so later. They cleaned up straight away and the FEC never did climb again (they didn’t get any wormer again for over two months), and thankfully no long term damage done either.

The advice to not wait for a high FEC is to avoid those devastating outbreaks. I don’t normally FEC them for nemo, just assume they want doing when they start looking ‘wormy’, at the right age or weather conditions. Of course, thee will have been some production loss before they ‘look wormy’, but they have to have some challenge to develop resistance.

 

[Mc115reed]

Agreed. It’s the mass hatches, with huge numbers of juvenile nematodirus worms at once, which cause huge losses. In that scenario you can be picking up dead lambs before any eggs are seen, in ewes or lambs.

Thankfully, those conditions & outbreaks are rare, but I could imagine it being pretty devastating.

Even the worst outbreaks I’ve seen have seen lambs going downhill rapidly, but eggs being present in significant numbers, so obviously not as bad as some people have seen.
My worst outbreak was last year, when I moved a bunch of March born lambs from clean(ish) ground to join a bigger mob on some dirtier ground. They obviously hadn’t had the challenge I thought they’d had and they went rapidly downhill. They had a mob FEC sample of 1500 epg, all nemo, and I treated them with a white wormer and returned them to the same ground, expecting to have to redrench them a week or so later. They cleaned up straight away and the FEC never did climb again (they didn’t get any wormer again for over two months), and thankfully no long term damage done either.

The advice to not wait for a high FEC is to avoid those devastating outbreaks. I don’t normally FEC them for nemo, just assume they want doing when they start looking ‘wormy’, at the right age or weather conditions. Of course, thee will have been some production loss before they ‘look wormy’, but they have to have some challenge to develop resistance.

Iv always been of the opinion anything effected by nemo as a lamb never quite does well afterwards but I could be wrong?

 

[neilo]

Iv always been of the opinion anything effected by nemo as a lamb never quite does well afterwards but I could be wrong?

That’s what they say, but that group of lambs really went to cr*p at that time. They were pedigree lambs and were still well behind when they were weighed & scanned (16-18 weeks).
They’ve all been run on nothing but forage since and you certainly couldn’t pick them out now. The mob of yearling rams now average 99kg and putting 3-400 g/day on grazing ryegrass seedheads.

It knocks them for six, but they do mend, it just takes time. You obviously might not have that time when producing fat lambs.

 

[Sheep92]

Now that’s clever.

Just what I was thinking

 

[Grassman]

How is everyone getting fec done?
I used to use mole Valley postal service but they don't seem to do sheep now.

 

[Tim W]

How is everyone getting fec done?
I used to use mole Valley postal service but they don't seem to do sheep now.

DIY ---it's simple and an instant result