Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Sheep producers urged to use lambs as fluke sentinels

Experts have advised farmers to be aware of liver fluke.
Experts have advised farmers to be aware of liver fluke.

Sheep producers are being urged to test this season’s lambs for liver fluke before treating their entire flock for the disease.

Advisory group Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (Scops) says 2020 is an atypical year and the timing of peak liver fluke risk could be different from normal and vary across the country.

It is advising farmers and crofters to avoid the temptation to treat animals for fluke early in the autumn, as treatment at the wrong time may be a waste of time and money and offer no protection if animals become infected later in the year.

Producers are advised to use this season’s lambs as sentinels – an indicator of disease presence in a flock –and blood test them for the disease before considering treatment of the main flock.

“Farmers are increasingly using blood tests on lambs to check for infection in their sheep because this is the best diagnostic test at this time of year,” said Professor Diana Williams from Liverpool University.

“The test can detect infection much earlier than faecal methods, which rely on the liver flukes being more mature. Lambs are ideal as an early warning because they can only have picked up liver fluke this season.”

Pete Webster, who farms at Matson Ground Estate, Windermere, blood tests lambs that have been kept with ewes to identify the best time to first treat the ewe flock for fluke.

He said: “We have suffered with fluke in the past and this is the best way to ensure we are spot-on with any treatments. If the first lamb tests are negative, we will retest in a month to check again.”

Scops advises sheep farmers interested in blood-testing lambs to test between six and 10 sentinel lambs every month.

Once lambs start testing positive for fluke they are advised to speak to their vet to arrange further testing. Once the lambs are confirmed as being infected with liver fluke, they should then treat the rest of the sheep on that ground.