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EVENTS IN BRIEF

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ARTICLES IN BRIEF

Nuria Terron-Canedo Joins Priory Equine

Priory Veterinary Surgeons secures it's fifth Equine Vet... More..

Flies and Midges

The fly and midge population increases exponentially throughout the summer months. Flies can cause conjunctivitis... More..

Emerging Diseases

African Horse Sickness and West Nile Virus hit the UK... More..

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Resistance to Wormers continues to increase


Worms in HorsesDespite the availability of a wide range of modern, safe and relatively cheap worming drugs, parasitic worms still remain a major disease threat.

The idea of these chemicals is to kill the egg laying adult worm and thereby minimise pasture contamination.  In many instances they have been used intensively and often exclusively, without paying attention to sensible pasture management and stocking levels.

Unfortunately the regular use of any chemical to kill an infective organism almost inevitably leads to the development of drug resistance. 

You will be familiar with some resistance to antibiotics (e.g. MRSA).
 The following advice is designed to REDUCE the use of wormers and SLOW resistance and also may save you money! Called:-


Targeted Strategic Worming

Round Worms

November All horses should be treated with Equest this is because there is currently no way of diagnosing the none egg laying larvae (encysted cyathostomes) living in the gut wall. These may cause severe disease in Feb-April when they start to develop and erupt from the gut wall

February – May — August faecal samples tested every 12 weeks.  Only those horses with an egg count greater than 200 eggs per gram should then be given equest. In horses with consistently low egg counts this interval can often be extended to every 6 to 9 months. Alternate with  Strongid  P the following year.

Tape Worms

Any time of year All horses should have a blood sample taken for the Tapeworm antibody test. Repeat 1 to 2 years (depending on the results). Can be timed with vaccine to save call out fees.


Practice good pasture hygine

  •  Pick up faeces twice weekly in the summer and once a week in the winter as a minimum
  • Sensible stocking density and if possible rest pastures
  • Do not graze foals on the same pasture each year and ensure good stable hygiene
  • Graze sheep to ‘clean’ the pasture, either with or after the horses
  • NEW HORSES
  • Keep all new horses on separate grazing while you test
  • Treat all those that test positive
  • Re-test 2 weeks later before exposing them to the main herd in order to look forresistance and prevent further contamination of the main grazing pastures. 

 

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