Everything they may have we can find. Our Ruminant Worm Egg Count tests are suitable for all Cows, Sheep, Goats.
All ruminants are susceptible to a wide range of parasites which are native to the UK or aboard. However, there are many ways to make the land work for you so there is little to no need to use wormers to protect your livestock. Ruminants like other animals have a sophisticated immune system, which is capable of recognising a lot of parasites and can even naturally eliminate the parasites.
Knowing what worms, you are treating is the first obstacle, as NOT all wormers will target ALL worm species! FEC are a cost-effective way to know what worms you are dealing with if any at all. Once the correct product is selected, it is essential that each animal gets the correct dose.
Whenever possible ensure that all animals are weighed to ensure the correct dose is given. Calibrating all equipment including weigh scales and dosing guns is vital, as these can change when in use. The wrong dosage may even do more harm than good to your livestock, waste wormer, cause resistance and cost you money.
With liver fluke and barber pole worms being two of the most destructive worms and the fastest to develop resistance to wormers, it is advisable to monitor the progress of these worms to ensure all burdens are under control. This is done by a Faecal egg count reduction test, which is used to compare the worm burdens before a treatment of wormer and 7-21 days after. We can provide advice and guidance to switching your wormer groups, when needed for a more effective worming plan.
Buying in new stock
Bringing in new livestock, albeit as a favour to a friend, investment into new genetics or otherwise, could lead to some costly disasters. Even the healthiest of looking animals can shed disease pathogens from the stress of the trailer ride alone. One of these issues may be resistant worms! Once you let resistant worm eggs on to your land, you will be fighting to limit the spread of these worms, and the health of your flock/herd for years to come. By quarantining the new stock, doing a FEC, treating accordingly and a reduction follow up test can prevent this.
FECs rely on a few assumptions, one is that the spread of eggs is uniform throughout the faeces. The other is that all worms are adults and producing eggs. When animals are housed over the winter months, feeding on ensiled feeds and not grazing it is accepted that there is little to no chance of a new worm burden being passed on. By waiting 6 weeks from when they are housed, for the eggs to mature, then carrying out a FECs on a random selection of your group. This means all worms are adults so any worms are then identified, and the proper treatment can be administered. After this no treatments needs to be considered for at least 21 days but often much longer after turning out.
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