COCC I D IOS I S
Working with your vet
If coccidiosis is suspected on-farm, or
there is a history of the disease, farmers
are advised to contact their vet who can
carry out a full investigation to establish
a complete on-farm picture, and advise
treatment of coccidiosis accordingly.
‘As soon as farmers are seeing scouring, or
other overt symptoms in lambs, and suspect
coccidiosis is the cause of the problem,
we would encourage them to take faecal
samples from a group of at least 10 to 15
infected animals,’ says Chris.
‘We can then perform an oocyst count
and speciation testing to identify the
species of Eimeria present, and if it’s
disease causing. This will ensure we
can treat infected animals effectively.’
He explains that once the species of
Eimeria has been identified he can work
with the farmer to develop a preventative
programme to reduce the likelihood of
the disease re-occurring in the future.
‘Ideally, preventative treatment should
be administered when there is enough
coccidiosis in the gut to stimulate an
immune response but not enough to
cause damage and clinical symptoms.
‘If we can identify common times or
practices when coccidiosis has been
a problem in the past, or is likely to be
a problem, we can administer the right
treatment at the right time,’ he says.
Andrew Preece is a farmer from Much
Wenlock, Shropshire, who has been a
client of Severn Edge Vets for the past 25
years. Running a flock of 300 Suffolk and
Texel cross ewes, Mr Preece has previously
had a significant problem with coccidiosis
on his farm.
‘Each year we were seeing a considerable
number of lambs scouring and not pushing
on as well as they should’ve been. We
were treating lambs for the disease, but
with little success.
‘Last year, I contacted Chris to try and get
on top of the disease. He advised that I
took faecal samples from scouring lambs
so they could run tests to identify the root
cause of the problem,’ says Mr Preece.
The results of the speciation testing
identified the species of Eimeria responsible
for the coccidiosis problem on Mr Preeces’
farm. As a result, Chris and Mr Preece
have been able to work together to
develop a preventative programme, to treat
lambs at the right time to stop the disease
taking hold.
‘Last year was the first year I’ve treated
lambs with a product containing toltrazuril,
and I’ve been very happy with the results.
‘I’ve only had to treat lambs once, where
previously I was treating batches of lambs
three or four times. This has saved us time
and money, and lambs have gained
weight quicker, and we’ve not seen
the growth checks that have occurred
previously.
‘Working with Chris and implementing this
programme means we’ve got on top of the
disease and been able to meet the early
lamb markets we want to target,’ adds
Mr Preece.
Case study
Two lambs - one treated for coccidiosis, one not
WINTER 2014/2015 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
18
Burwarton Show lambs
XLVets would like to thank Bayer Animal
Health for their support with this article.
