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The idea of quarantine is to prevent the
transfer of diseases between the existing
flock and any new stock. Remember this
goes both ways - it is perfectly possible for
the existing flock to infect the new arrivals.
The quarantine area has to be big enough
to keep all the new stock in for a minimum
of three weeks. This needs to include a
field of ‘dirty’ grazing - ideally pasture that
lambs have just moved off, a large enough
yard to be able to shut everything in for 48
hours and all this without there being any
chance of contacting the existing stock.
This can be difficult to achieve but needs
to be done for the quarantine procedure
to be successful.
BUY ING IN SHEEP
Quarantine
Wormer Groups
AUTUMN 2011 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
8
Diseases and problems
Wormer resistance
This is probably the biggest risk to sheep
farming in the UK at the moment. Recent
surveys estimate that at least 80% of farms
have resistance to Group 1-BZ wormers
(white drenches) and 30-50% have
resistance to Group 2-LM (yellow drenches).
All wormers in the same group act in the
same way, so resistance to any wormer in
the group means resistance to the whole
group. Simply changing brand of wormer
will not make any difference to levels of
resistance. It is important when buying in
that any resistant worms bought at the same
time do not make it onto your farm.
Remember you are protecting your flock
from new problems.
The guidelines to prevent introduction of
resistant worms are set out by SCOPS
(Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep).
These are three simple steps.
l
Yard
- new arrivals need to be kept on
concrete for 48 hours – this allows any
resistant worm eggs in their gut to fall
onto the concrete and be cleared away,
rather than contaminate your field. Other
diseases (CODD, CLA, orf etc.) should
also be obvious.
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Treat
- dose with monepantel (Group 4
-AAD, orange wormer - sold as Zolvix
TM
),
then Avermectins/Macrocyclic Lactones
(Group 3-ML, clear wormer - e.g.
Cydectin
TM
) immediately after. If sheep
scab is a worry then injectable
avermectins can be used (see sheep
scab section). This combination should
kill all worms that are present.
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Quarantine
- turn the sheep out onto
dirty pasture - grazed by lambs as
recently as possible. This makes sure that
if by some chance a resistant worm does
survive, its effect is minimal as all the
farm’s ‘usual’ worms will dilute out the
eggs produced by the resistant worm.
In an ideal world, the paddock used as
quarantine should be either rested next year
i.e. not grazed until cut for silage or hay,
or ploughed up and either re-seeded as a
new ley or used for crops. This means that
any worm eggs that do survive quarantine
will not have the chance to stay on pasture
over winter.
Common problems that can be bought in include: resistant worms, liver
fluke, sheep scab, footrot, CODD, enzootic abortion (EAE), caseous
lymphadenitis (CLA), maedi visna (MV) and orf. This is by no means the
complete list and so each farm will need to draw up their own procedures
based on the diseases that are present on farm.
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Group 1-BZ
- white drenches
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Group 2-LM
- yellow drenches
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Group 3-ML
- clear drenches
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Group 4-AAD
- orange drenches
(new this year)
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All wormers in a group work the
same - resistance is to the whole
group, not an individual product
Proper worming
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Weigh
- DON’T guess, dose for
the heaviest
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Calibrate
- check the gun is giving
the correct dose
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Technique
- dose over the back of
the tongue
SCOPS Guidelines
l
Yard
- 48 Hours
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Treat
- monepantel and moxidectin
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Quarantine
- dirty pasture for
three weeks
Dirty sheep – quarantine drench to prevent
resistant worms.
After quarantine drench, keep on a yard
for 48 hours.