Warm Wet winters Mean More Worms !

Pick up any farming paper in the next month or so and there will be an article on worms. However please read on as we hope to give some guidance as to the best policy on wormers. A mild dry autumn increases worm survival late into the year and the extremely mild winter will have ensured a good survival of worms on the pasture. The early spring will assist their development and any animal turned out from now on will be at risk. The older animals are generally immune due to exposure in previous years, but they are quite capable of acting as a host for some of the gut worms and excreting live eggs very quickly, this is especially true of lambing ewes.

Control of worms is a well recognised treatment and a “wormer” is probably one of your most frequent drug purchases. But, are you making the most efficient use of your wormer? And is it in fact the right drug for the job? With the present lacklustre economic climate in farming, the importance of using the right product and using it correctly is more crucial than ever.

The choice of wormer should be based on previous experience, the knowledge of what worms are present and any resistance problems that may exist. A fresh faeces sample taken to the surgery will reveal the number and type of worms present. Generally speaking, resistance is only a problem with the whiter drenches (the Benzimidazoles) like Panacur. Your farm history should provide the evidence for this as by now you will be aware of which products have worked the best in the past.

How frequently do you worm? A typical regime is every four weeks which in many cases is adequate to prevent scouring, but most worms have a 21 day life cycle, so it makes more sense to worm every three weeks. We realise that no obvious worm problem may be seen such as lambs with dirty backsides, but each week that the worms are able to survive will increase pasture contamination, creating problems for later in the year.

The problems of correct timing of the doses can be reduced by using the slow release boluses (Autoworm or Ivomec) or by using some of the long acting injections such as Dectomax or Cydectin. Given the early spring we would be tempted to inject all sheep that are turned out following lambing, as this will cut down the numbers of worms shed by the ewe (depending on your regime it may be more beneficial to worm on housing, prior to lambing). In fields we have already seen some very loose looking droppings, so the problem is here already.

But after all this, why should you bother as the low prices for stock means that you can afford to lose one or two for the price of the wormer. This is unfortunately false economy as to lose one or two means the rest are badly affected, won’t put on the required weight and may need extra feed to get to killing weight. It is vital that we make the best use of forage and part of that best use involves good worming strategy.

So far we have made no mention of Husk. This disease is on the increase, partly due to worming programmes that have not allowed for the animal to become immune. The best treatment is Huskvac (The old Dictol) the immunises the calf before turn out. There is increasing evidence that a further booster dose may be necessary before the second grazing season, rather than just relying on the initial course.

As a PS and still on the subject of wormers, may we also suggest that before buying your wormwer you check over your plans with one of our vets? And at the same time get a quote for the drug, you may be pleasantly surprised how well we can now compete with trade prices.