As all sheep farmers will know SCOPS (Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep) has long been regarded as the best advice to follow in order to control worms in sheep and prevent the build up of worms that are resistant to our wormers.
Unfortunately, what is not so well known is that the advice changes from time to time. Therefore, we have collated the most up to date advice, correct at the beginning of March 2010.
The overall aim is to reduce the frequency of treatment, but to treat properly when you have to.
- Use faecal egg counts to guide treatment.
- Avoid unnecessary dosing of ewes (i.e. Ewes carrying singles)
- Dose according to the maximum individual weight in a group, not the average.
- Move sheep after treatment to lightly contaminated (not clean) pasture.
- Quarantine treatment of bought in stock with a macrocyclic lactone & levamisole, before yarding them for 24 hours, and then moving them to contaminated pasture to dilute any remaining resitant types.
- Rotate between drug classes on an annual basis
- Routinely check that wormers work by faecal egg counts 10-14 days after treatment.
For more information, talk to one of our vets.