What sheep bolus to use?

[MF 135 Man]

I want to bolus my small flock of bluefaced Leicester’s but have never used any bolus’s before.

Any recommendations on what bolus to use?

Huw

 

[Woolless]

Assuming that you have done some blood tests to establish that you have a deficiency, then I would recommend Mayo boluses. I've used ewe and lamb boluses and found them both to be good.

 

[andybk]

after blood tests , that showed we were short of selenium , we went with mayo boluses for ewes (wyynstays version is a bit cheaper , same bolus different box ) and i do all lambs pre weaning with small smart trace ones x2 they only cover 3 months and give a selenium and cobalt lift as we were getting a few lambs with ccn , later in autumn all keepers will be given a mayo one as well , choose carefully as adult agrimin smart trace are huge and a pain to administer . Animax are also very good and is same size gun as mayo . we definaty see a lift about a month after administration
you need a cross section of blood done really with vet to see were you are (about 6 / 2 of best 2 worst and a couple in middle )

 

[Woolless]

after blood tests , that showed we were short of selenium , we went with mayo boluses for ewes (wyynstays version is a bit cheaper , same bolus different box ) and i do all lambs pre weaning with small smart trace ones x2 they only cover 3 months and give a selenium and cobalt lift as we were getting a few lambs with ccn , later in autumn all keepers will be given a mayo one as well , choose carefully as adult agrimin smart trace are huge and a pain to administer . Animax are also very good and is same size gun as mayo . we definaty see a lift about a month after administration
you need a cross section of blood done really with vet to see were you are (about 6 / 2 of best 2 worst and a couple in middle )

Would agree with your observation on the Agrimin boluses. Used once, got them down but had to proceed with extreme caution.

 

[neilo]

I've been giving some Agrimin Smarttrace Plus boluses over the last couple of days, as I managed to blag some 'near date' ones at half price.I've not used them for a couple of years and had almost forgotten how awkward they were to administer (even in a clamp), compared to the Animax or Mayo ones I've been using since.

 

[andybk]

I've been giving some Agrimin Smarttrace Plus boluses over the last couple of days, as I managed to blag some 'near date' ones at half price.I've not used them for a couple of years and had almost forgotten how awkward they were to administer (even in a clamp), compared to the Animax or Mayo ones I've been using since.

they must have a very good rep selling them , all the independants around here (inc downland) sell only them , even though they dont sell to shep men because they are hard to administer , they are popular for cattle men though so perhaps thats why they are in stock , told our downland rep last year "change supplier for sheep ones and will buy from him " but still has piles of smart trace ones on the shelf . yet he dosnt stock the small smart trace ones !

 

[neilo]

they must have a very good rep selling them , all the independants around here (inc downland) sell only them , even though they dont sell to shep men because they are hard to administer , they are popular for cattle men though so perhaps thats why they are in stock , told our downland rep last year "change supplier for sheep ones and will buy from him " but still has piles of smart trace ones on the shelf . yet he dosnt stock the small smart trace ones !

They told me they hardly ever sell any of the Agrimin sheep ones. 3 boxes of the 'near date' ones may have been well past expiry, but I couldn't persuade them to dispose of them too me. I was surprised that they were selling so few as they could go past their expiry date, which is quite long anyway.

 

[Woolless]

They told me they hardly ever sell any of the Agrimin sheep ones. 3 boxes of the 'near date' ones may have been well past expiry, but I couldn't persuade them to dispose of them too me. I was surprised that they were selling so few as they could go past their expiry date, which is quite long anyway.

Presumably because folk will use them once and then say 'feck this, they're too big!'

 

[Al R]

On the back of @neilo - once again thank you! I am now on Mayo (or Wynnstays own brand) extremely happy with the results so far, it’s been a tough(dry) year and more lambs are finished and ewe lambs that have reared are 1 BCS better than last year.
Easy to administer to and only had a handful cough them up (0.5%) (the make I was on before would be 5%) and that’s just from being done to walking off the combi clamp. Mayo lamb Bolus is easy to use, 1 in the gun, 1 between the fingers and 2 held in the lips and you can do 4 lambs rapidly!

 

[neilo]

On the back of @neilo - once again thank you! I am now on Mayo (or Wynnstays own brand) extremely happy with the results so far, it’s been a tough(dry) year and more lambs are finished and ewe lambs that have reared are 1 BCS better than last year.
Easy to administer to and only had a handful cough them up (0.5%) (the make I was on before would be 5%) and that’s just from being done to walking off the combi clamp. Mayo lamb Bolus is easy to use, 1 in the gun, 1 between the fingers and 2 held in the lips and you can do 4 lambs rapidly!

“2 held in the lips”? Are you looking brighter since dosing the lambs too?

I have to confess that I am looking at other makes again. We have had an ongoing, and seemingly worsening, Iodine deficiency problem over the last 2 years. I’m thinking of trying a different make again, to see if that stops it.
Mayo certainly the easiest to administer, but not confident they are fully addressing the TE problem (particularly I) here.

 

[MF 135 Man]

like i say i have not done it before so it is all new to me, i will contact my vet and get to blood samples to them for testing first

Thanks for the advice!