Fluke Dosing

Dickie10

I know we have had a very good summer, but I was going to dose the breeding ewes this week, and again in 6 weeks , this is what usually done and never lose any sheep to fluke.some ewes were thin but they were lame the rest were good condition perhaps a score of 3-3.5 would ths be the right time for fluke dose? never dose for worms or vaccinate ewes and never had a problem, is this also common?

flatout11

Dickie10 wrote: »

I know we have had a very good summer, but I was going to dose the breeding ewes this week, and again in 6 weeks , this is what usually done and never lose any sheep to fluke.some ewes were thin but they were lame the rest were good condition perhaps a score of 3-3.5 would ths be the right time for fluke dose? never dose for worms or vaccinate ewes and never had a problem, is this also common?

depends on your farm i reckon, dry farms can get away with minimal fluke dosing - useful to get the livers checked in the factory though.
personally i dose in early sept against imatures and again post housing with a different product and again in may for adult fluke - maybe overkill but we would have some heavy wet land that i have to graze.
from the sounds of it you do not have a major floke issue nevertheless if you havnet dosed now would be a good time to do it

Dickie10

grand thanks were in south Meath its very dry sandy land so maybe that's why its not too bad for fluke, ICM Navan is our factory and they give fluke report didn't get one since last November and that was the first, of course that was the middle of the worst wet spell in decades

delaval

Is there an injection for Fluke and worms that can be used on pregnant dairy stock?

jomoloney

delaval wrote: »

Is there an injection for Fluke and worms that can be used on pregnant dairy stock?

thought you hated sheep

anyhow to answer your query

no (not that I'm aware of anyhow)

docmartin

Dickie10 wrote: »

I know we have had a very good summer, but I was going to dose the breeding ewes this week, and again in 6 weeks , this is what usually done and never lose any sheep to fluke.some ewes were thin but they were lame the rest were good condition perhaps a score of 3-3.5 would ths be the right time for fluke dose? never dose for worms or vaccinate ewes and never had a problem, is this also common?

HI Dickie, i try to dose for fluke at 4-6 week intervals, alternating between a drench and a trodax injection, but i'm farming wet land in Donegal, This year though my stock is fitter than ever, some of my ewe lambs on the hill had worms but they were dosed for this, dont think there should be much sign of worms in breeding stock this time of year.
Back to the fluke treatment, the trodax can be an expensive injection but the father swears by it, alternate it with a cheap drench and it works out well.
But on dry land (given the great winter we're having) i'd be hugely surprised if you'd have a fluke problem,but then again, prevention is better than cure

Regards
Docmartin

razor8

IMO Flukivor , Trodax and Endofluke work best on our land for Liver fluke. Not a fan of Fasinex as i never think they improve after it. Dosed first time ever with Levafas Diamond this year for Rumen Fluke and they are in great style at the moment,

Usually dose at 7/8 week interval over the winter from october til housing and maybe once over the summer

eire23

razor8 wrote: »

IMO Flukivor , Trodax and Endofluke work best on our land for Liver fluke. Not a fan of Fasinex as i never think they improve after it. Dosed first time ever with Levafas Diamond this year for Rumen Fluke and they are in great style at the moment,

Usually dose at 7/8 week interval over the winter from october til housing and maybe once over the summer

Would you dose at housing razor or would ya leave them 2-3 weeks till after their in so that any immature fluke would have turned into mature and ya would only have to dose for that?

Hard to see why fasinex dosent work for ya, tis the exact same dose as endofluke afaik.

jomoloney

was doing the january lambers with hepta p + to day

first found a ewe panting bad (pnuemonia)

all others in great condition ....bar 2 one of which is very thin

gave them levafas diamond and housed the 3 , these would have been covered for liver fluke only, but heard locally that rumen fluke is widespread, will have to change dosing regime to cover for it

J.O. Farmer

eire23 wrote: »

Hard to see why fasinex dosent work for ya, tis the exact same dose as endofluke afaik.

I was thinking something similar but I was wondering how endofluke works as fasinex is the same as endofluke. Both are triclabendazole and resistance is well documented in certain parts of the country particularly those traditionally known for fluke.

razor8

eire23 wrote: »

Would you dose at housing razor or would ya leave them 2-3 weeks till after their in so that any immature fluke would have turned into mature and ya would only have to dose for that?

Hard to see why fasinex dosent work for ya, tis the exact same dose as endofluke afaik.

would wait minimum of 2 weeks and if in good condition would wait until 4 weeks out from lambing

this year plan to dose ewes more on results of FEC samples, been only testing lambs so far

i believe endofluke and fasinex are similar but have a different agent that carries the dose to the liver according to a vet i spoke too, maybe wrong

J.O. Farmer

razor8 wrote: »

i believe endofluke and fasinex are similar but have a different agent that carries the dose to the liver according to a vet i spoke too, maybe wrong

I don't know the formulations so that may be true. The triclabendazole has to be broken down in the liver to become active. If the liver is badly damaged the dose won't work well either. I still think that it doesn't matter how the triclabendazole gets to the liver once it gets there and is broken down it should all be the same.

eire23

razor8 wrote: »

would wait minimum of 2 weeks and if in good condition would wait until 4 weeks out from lambing

this year plan to dose ewes more on results of FEC samples, been only testing lambs so far

i believe endofluke and fasinex are similar but have a different agent that carries the dose to the liver according to a vet i spoke too, maybe wrong

That could well be the case razor, and interesting if its true.

When i was getting the ewes ready for the ram i sent away a batch of FEC samples. First time doing it for ewes as well. All came back negative for worms, liver fluke and rumen fluke but i still went ahead and dosed for liver fluke as the test isnt 100% accurate from what i can gather. Will sample them again at housing, and take it from there.

J.O. Farmer

eire23 wrote: »

That could well be the case razor, and interesting if its true.

When i was getting the ewes ready for the ram i sent away a batch of FEC samples. First time doing it for ewes as well. All came back negative for worms, liver fluke and rumen fluke but i still went ahead and dosed for liver fluke as the test isnt 100% accurate from what i can gather. Will sample them again at housing, and take it from there.

The FEC will only tell you if the ewes have mature fluke which are laying eggs in the bile ducts of the liver. It's immature fluke picked up from pasture and migrating through the liver that cause most damage.
Hypothetically you could have a sheep die from severe liver damage caused by an acute fluke infestation without ever shedding an egg.
I would prefer to dose for liver fluke as a precaution unless I had strong evidence that there's none present on my farm.
Fluke are different to worms in that they need an intermediate snail host and then can survive in a kind of cocoon until picked up by the sheep. If your farm is exceptionally dry with no snails then fluke will not survive.