Victoria worms, flies and lice update - March 2016

Hamilton: Andrew Whale, Livestock Logic (a.whale@livestocklogic.com.au)

Livestock Logic Key Recommendations

Producers must know their worm status now. Contaminating paddocks with worm eggs and larvae in April will lead to major worm issues in the winter.

• Take action now and worm egg count;
  • weaner mobs not tested in the last 4 weeks
  • mature mobs not tested in the last 8 weeks
• In addition, all weaner mobs will need to be worm tested around Anzac day to check on any spikes in egg counts.    

The very welcome and widespread 20-25mm rain event of the 18^th March in most areas of the Hamilton region has been followed by much cooler night time temperatures meaning that worms will now be surviving on pastures and completing the lifecycle.

Producers who didn’t egg count their sheep in February may have mobs with high worm burdens that require drenching not only to reduce their worm burdens but also to reduce contamination of grazing paddocks for the rest of the growing season

The chart below shows that our lab’s egg counts have continued to reduce from January through February as up until now worms have not been able to survive on pasture and complete the lifecycle. We expect these counts to start to increase from mid to late April.

Figure 1: Percentage of Sheep Requiring Drenching from Livestock Logic Laboratory over the last 3 months.

We urge producers who didn’t drench in the last 6 weeks to check the worm status of their animals. Minimising worm contamination in April and May is a key to healthier and better performing stock and weaner survival throughout the winter.