I've been having problems this year, more than in past years, with haemonchus contortus, (the barber pole or wire worm), infestation with my ewes. I ran a fecal test yesterday. I got some fecal matter from the lambs and processed that seperate. I got some from several ewes and processed it. I also got some from my 9 month old St. Croix ewe lamb and processed it seperate. Of the three slides I had haemonchus contortus eggs showing up in both the lambs and the adult ewes but NONE in the St. Croix's slide. I thought that was very interesting since she runs on the same pastures as everyone else. She apparently is more resistant to that blood sucking parasite.
It does seem that the more wool oriented the breed the lower the worm resistance. Of coarse the higher potential return of premium wool far more than off sets the cost of extra worming. What have you tried in correcting the problem?
My wooled sheep have only commercial grade wool. All of this season's lambs are from my crossbred ewes or my suffolk ewe or my polypay ewe by a polled dorset ram. My current wooled ewe flock grew from breeding a romonov ram to two different suffolk ewes and a polypay ewe. We've kept some of their twin and triplet daughters through the years. We also have a quadruplet daughter from the breeding of a romonov/dorset cross to a fin ewe and a triplet daughter from a suffolk/dorset breeding. Two purchased suffolk crossbred ewes complete the 20 ewe flock. (I'm not counting the St. Croix ewe lamb) There seems to be a resistance to both the valbazen and the ivormectin drenches that I've used this year. I am considering using tramisol next as I have not used that in at least 8 years. However my neighbor, who is an agri teacher and raises club lambs, suggests that I use injectable ivormectin. (2x the cattle dose) I have done that many years ago, may be time again. I wish that I had the space to be able to rotate the pasture. That would be the best remedy - clean pasture! I will be reducing the flock size this year to help relieve the pressure on both me and the land. I'll be keeping the ewes that seem to have some resistance and getting rid of the others. What are you others who live in warm, humid areas doing? Are you having problems, too?
I'll let you know as soon as I run the fecal exam on ours. So much on my plate to do, including contacting Farmstead Health and get them started on herbal preventative/maintenace supplements. We do rotate pasture now that there is something for them to graze. Will add on more next year. Our herd is only 5.
Ok, I finally stopped procrastinating re: checking the sheep for worms with Farmstead's kit. Results- they are clean. Visually- the stool was formed pellets with dark greenish color. I kept samples separate for the older blackbellies vs. the 2 ewes acquired in May. I did the sedimentation test then followed the steps in the flotation instructions. I checked 2 different samples from the lambs and the older blackbellies. As a double check I'm going to ask our local vet that sees the German Shepherd, if she would verify my results in the office. (she made it clear she doesn't treat/examine sheep, but she might do a parasite check...never hurts to ask) The only time any of them have been de-wormed were as lambs prior to arriving on our land. The lambs were last de-wormed 4-16-04. I picked them up the first part of May. I'm amazed.
It sounds like you brought them in clean so it should take quite some time to see any worms. That Farmstead kit sounds neat. Where do you get one?
Yes, they all came in clean and the land had not been used for livestock in at least 60-80 years. I also practice 3 week rotational grazing, so I do hope to continue to keep them relatively low load in parasites. http://www.farmsteadhealth.com/ The kit and id sheets is available for order online.
After a meeting of Katahdin Hair Sheep Int'l I learned that two breeds, St. Croix and Florida Native sheep seem to be very resistant to the haemonchus contortus worm. This trait hopefully is present in the Katahdins that I have and we will selectively cull with that in mind. They are doing some great research at Bowdoin College in Maine on Katahdins to find out why some are resistant and how to raise sheep without anthelmetics. Professor Tom Settlemire is the one leading the team and info can be found at: http://mainesheepbreeders.org/hairsheep.htm
I know I read a study done at NCSU re: worms, etc with blackbelly sheep, but can't locate it, but found below: http://www.critterhaven.biz/publications.htm "Aumont, G.; Gruner, L.; Hostache, G. Comparison of the resistance to sympatric and allopatric isolates of Haemonchus contortus of Black Belly sheep in Guadeloupe (FWI) and of INRA 401 sheep in France. Veterinary Parasitology 116 (2): 139-150 2003 " "Gruner, L.; Aumont, G.; Getachew, T.; Brunel, J. C.; Pery, C.; Cognie, Y.; Guerin, Y. Experimental infection of Black Belly and INRA 401 straight and crossbred sheep with trichostrongyle nematode parasites. Veterinary Parasitology 116 (3): 239-249 2003 " General Article on hair sheep http://www.sheepandgoat.com/hairsheepupdate.html Mentions parasite resistance in hair sheep.
