Rise of the lungworm poses threat to makers of our national dish
farmers failing to treat their sheep due to Decline of other pests
Published:
Production of genuine haggis could be hit in some parts of Scotland if farmers do not take action to control lung disease in sheep.
A vital ingredient of the Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin’ Race is lamb lungs or “lights" as they are known – but an increasing number of lungs are being condemned by abattoir inspectors because they are infested with a parasitic worm.
Now a warning has been issued by Sandy Clark, of the Scottish Agricultural College’s Veterinary Investigation Centre at Thurso, that farmers could now have to start checking for lungworm as well as other parasites that sheep pick up from eating pasture.
Mr Clark thinks the rise in lungworm numbers could be the result of climate change and milder winters, or farmers cutting back on the use of medicines. The 0.25in thread-like worm’s life cycle consists of being eaten then passed through the sheep.
He said: “When there is hard frost the lungworm goes down into the soil, but we don’t get these frosts often now so the parasite is on the surface for longer periods, giving it more chance of being ingested by lambs on the pasture.
“If it wasn’t for the abattoirs, mostly in north-east Scotland, warning me, I wouldn’t have known about this increase.”
Lungworms are easily controlled by anthelmintics, the same treatments used to kill other internal pests such as roundworm and fluke, but as these parasites are now less common, farmers are reducing their worming programmes.
Sheep droppings are analysed for roundworm and fluke, but if they are not found then no dose is administered. Now farmers might have to start checking for lungworm as well, said Mr Clark. One of the biggest producers of haggis in Scotland is multi-award-winning George Cockburn’s in Dingwall where a ton of pudding is produced on an average week, soaring to 15 tons in the three weeks before Burns Night. But one of the directors, Fraser MacGregor, said their production had not yet been hit.
He added: “We need three tons of lungs per month, and so far we have not been hit by this lungworm although we do have to place our order with the abattoir earlier than we used to, to make sure of supply.
“We are fortunate because we use the Dornoch abattoir which takes sheep from local areas, and I don’t think the north is so badly affected. It certainly is not a problem with us.”
However another big haggis maker in Edinburgh was reported as having had to go to Ireland to source lungs because of occasional shortage.
