Traditionally in mid-summer the idea of dosing and moving to clean or cleaner pasture in the form of reseeds or after grass was common practice, but with the increasing development of anthelminthic resistance, that practice has become problematic.

To explain why, on this week’s episode of OviCast, Ciarán Lynch is joined by Dr. Orla Keane. Orla sets out what the key issue is with dosing and moving to clean pasture and in doing so she also explains what is considered to be clean and cleaner pasture on sheep farms.

She discusses managing refugia and maintaining a susceptible worm population and how dosing and moving to clean ground gives resistant worms a competitive advantage and can speed up the development of resistance.

Orla and Ciarán also discuss seeding pasture with susceptible worms by grazing with un-dosed lambs or following with ewes can provide a source of refugia for this cleaner or clean ground, and Orla explains why this is not as important a factor on ground frequently grazed by sheep.

Finally, Orla highlights why producers should consider using faecal sampling as a basis for decisions on worm dosing as the season progresses.

Find out more about anthelminthic resistance:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/flock-health/anthelmintic-resistance/

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast