Expert advice shared via SCOPS online question and answer session

Two online question and answer sessions ran by SCOPS at lunchtime and early evening yesterday (Wednesday 19th July) attracted large numbers of vets, advisers and farmers and provided useful and practical advice on checking a worming treatment has been effective.

Clicke here to watch a recording of the online session.

Both sessions had a similar format, focussing on four key areas: 

• Which group of sheep to use for a worming treatment check and when to test.
• What's needed to carry out a test.
• How to collect a good sample and get a reliable test result.
• Interpreting results and next steps.

The sessions highlighted that now is an excellent time to conduct a worming treatment test, as regular faecal eggs counts (FECs) are likely to show high enough worm egg counts for a worming treatment to be used, after which a follow-up test can show if the treatment worked. Expert speakers - Lesley Stubbings (independent sheep consultant and SCOPS representative) and Rebecca Mearns (Biobest Laboratories and Sheep Veterinary Society) - highlighted the various reasons a worming treatment check might show a treatment had not worked, which was not always due to the presence of anthelmintic resistance.

Kevin Harrison, SCOPS Chair, hosted the sessions and reminded attendees that while Worming Treatment Check funding was available via the Defra Health & Welfare Pathway in England, the process of carrying out a treatment check and the benefits of doing so were the same throughout the UK.