Dosing lambs

Green farmer

Now to the next hurdle, keeping lambs alive....

What's the earliest you can dose lambs ? I read theres an explosion of nematodirus hatching at the moment and killing lambs a few weeks old in the field.

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

Now to the next hurdle, keeping lambs alive....

What's the earliest you can dose lambs ? I read theres an explosion of nematodirus hatching at the moment and killing lambs a few weeks old in the field.

Lambs can't get infected till they're eating grass, so once they're 5 - 6 wks old they're at risk from nematodirus

Willfarman

I do the ewes in the ear with cydectin long acting stuff after lambing to give them a good clear out and not have them fuppin out critters for the lambs to be picking up.

Sami23

Green farmer wrote: »

Now to the next hurdle, keeping lambs alive....

What's the earliest you can dose lambs ? I read theres an explosion of nematodirus hatching at the moment and killing lambs a few weeks old in the field.

Do ye mind me asking what is Nematodirus ?

Lost a lamb myself approx. 5-6 weeks old last week in the field. He was lying flat out all swelled up when I was checking them. What could have caused that ?

Green farmer

Nematodirus.... Tiny little worm eggs on the grass, that once eaten,hatch out inside the sheep, lay more eggs , get passed out again. Cause ill thrift, scouring and the like. nasty little parasites, can kill because they can be millions of them. Dosing cleans them out the sheep, like trying to break a cycle. Rangler is our resident expert here . It's a huge area is worms, including types , resistance issues etc. First we're fighting the fox, then the worms followed closely by the flystrike. The work of a sheep farmer eh

Willfarman

Sami23 wrote: »

Do ye mind me asking what is Nematodirus ?

Lost a lamb myself approx. 5-6 weeks old last week in the field. He was lying flat out all swelled up when I was checking them. What could have caused that ?

Could be some of the clostridial diseases. The worms would have him starving and scuttered out looking.

Bleating Lamb

Sami23 wrote: »

Do ye mind me asking what is Nematodirus ?

Lost a lamb myself approx. 5-6 weeks old last week in the field. He was lying flat out all swelled up when I was checking them. What could have caused that ?

Were lambs vaccinated?.....could well be pulpy kidney....they often swell after that.

Green farmer

Could send fresh losses to labs if near one

Sami23

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Were lambs vaccinated?.....could well be pulpy kidney....they often swell after that.

No just ewes were vaccinated

Dickie10

should i dose my lambs some are beginig to get dirty arses, they were majority born between feb1st and 14th?

rangler1

Dickie10 wrote: »

should i dose my lambs some are beginig to get dirty arses, they were majority born between feb1st and 14th?

The department have issued a warning about nematodirus, so if your lambs are over 5 -6 wks old you'd be better to dose them, I'm hoping to do mine on Thursday, they're vulnerable between 6 and 12 weeks, the risk isn't as great if there was no sheep on the land last year .
A cheap white dose is good enough, any of those doses that claim to work for 3 wks for other worms only work for 24hrs for nemo so no advantage

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

Nematodirus.... Tiny little worm eggs on the grass, that once eaten,hatch out inside the sheep, lay more eggs , get passed out again. Cause ill thrift, scouring and the like. nasty little parasites, can kill because they can be millions of them. Dosing cleans them out the sheep, like trying to break a cycle. Rangler is our resident expert here . It's a huge area is worms, including types , resistance issues etc. First we're fighting the fox, then the worms followed closely by the flystrike. The work of a sheep farmer eh

Nematodirus hatches on the grass, so when they're ingested they're doing harm immediately and have a lot of harm done before you see them in a fecal egg count.
Apparently they hatch when there's a few consecutive days over 10 degrees in the spring, that's why the dept flags when conditions are right for a 'hatch''

Green farmer

I've noticed the sheep getting very dirty over the last few days alright. Especially rams that were out grazing over the winter. Agriland has an article up about the department warning as well.

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

I've noticed the sheep getting very dirty over the last few days alright. Especially rams that were out grazing over the winter. Agriland has an article up about the department warning as well.

Scoury adult sheep at the moment is probably caused by the fresh grass, all my ewes are dosed and they're all getting dirty,

Green farmer

how do you tell the difference :pac: other then faecal test

ganmo

Green farmer wrote: »

how do you tell the difference :pac: other then faecal test

Blood test can't remember what the test is called but is ment to be more accurate than fec...not the answer you were lookin for I bet

Green farmer

Ya , I was hoping there was some easy visual way of telling

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

how do you tell the difference :pac: other then faecal test

Teagasc tell us that adult sheep don't need to be dosed for worms, it's for the lambs sake that I dose the ewes, reduces the amount of eggs the ewes throw out early in the season.
Adult sheep get worms alright but they don't suffer any ill effects

ganmo

rangler1 wrote: »

Teagasc tell us that adult sheep don't need to be dosed for worms, it's for the lambs sake that I dose the ewes, reduces the amount of eggs the ewes throw out early in the season.
Adult sheep get worms alright but they don't suffer any ill effects

Would dosing the ewes not help build up
Resistance?

Green farmer

I've ewes who havent been dosed in years and are clean. I've others that always seem to be the first dirty.i think genes have a part to play. I notice lambs and especially store lambs can get badly effected by worms. Killed a store on me last autumn. Weather got mild and a huge hatching happened out of season.

rangler1

ganmo wrote: »

Would dosing the ewes not help build up
Resistance?

That's what teagasc think too, we have no resistance here to any dose so it's not an issue. If you have a resistance, dosing the ewes probably will make it worse, but dosing the lambs during the season and not killing all the worms will do it too

Green farmer

I saw a worm product there in the coop last season, that had the white and yellow ingredients in it. Theory was if you had resistance to one, the other would get them.

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

I saw a worm product there in the coop last season, that had the white and yellow ingredients in it. Theory was if you had resistance to one, the other would get them.

there was a lot of farmers trying that idea before zolvix was introduced.

Green farmer

And how did they get on with it ?

I think the nematodirus can be killed easily enough with the dose. It's the strongyle ones I'm more worried about. Their the resistant ones, I think. ? I can remember reading somewhere as well , that they had the first suspected case of resistance to one of the new generation drenches, in holland I think

orm0nd

Green farmer wrote: »

I saw a worm product there in the coop last season, that had the white and yellow ingredients in it. Theory was if you had resistance to one, the other would get them.

I'm using a Fenbendazole & Levamisole mix this year

only ewes i dose are the yearling hoggetts

noticed a few lambs showing early signs of cobalt deficiency as well

Green farmer

orm0nd wrote: »

noticed a few lambs showing early signs of cobalt deficiency as well

They have scabby ears ? thanks to the info from lads on here I'm due to collect the cobalt sulphate from the coop tomorrow. Cheapest way I'm told of getting cobalt into them.

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

And how did they get on with it ?

I think the nematodirus can be killed easily enough with the dose. It's the strongyle ones I'm more worried about. Their the resistant ones, I think. ? I can remember reading somewhere as well , that they had the first suspected case of resistance to one of the new generation drenches, in holland I think

That's the reason for recommending the cheap white dose.......or any cheap dose

Green farmer

It's the labour cost , time wise is the real cost. You can never have too good a setup, facilities wise.

orm0nd

Green farmer wrote: »

They have scabby ears ? thanks to the info from lads on here I'm due to collect the cobalt sulphate from the coop tomorrow. Cheapest way I'm told of getting cobalt into them.

yeah slightly scaly ears, but it could be from the sun, thought the wool was a bit open (loose) on a few as well,