WHY AND HOW SHOULD SHEEP

FARMERS USE FAMACHA © ?

GARETH BATH, Emeritus Professor

Faculty of Veterinary Science

University of Pretoria

South Africa

URUGUAY, AUGUST 2017

• Over-reliance on drugs! Leads to:

• Overuse and misuse of anthelmintics

• World-wide anthelmintic resistance

• Fewer useful drugs, higher costs

• Treating sheep according to the weakest

• Unnecessary treatments for majority

• Cannot identify the best sheep

• Animals not suited to the farm environment

• Difficult to monitor flock situation

* Targeted Selective Treatment

WHY DO WE NEED TST *?

• Easy

• Cheap

• Reliable

• Quick

• Practical

* It must work in farmer’s hands!

REQUIREMENTS FOR

SUCCESSFUL TST

FAMACHA © ! (1995)

• Anaemia is reflected in the colour of eye mucosa

• Meets all the requirements of TST

• Widely tested world-wide

• Verdict: IT WORKS!

But:

• Only for use in sheep & goats

• Only an indicator for haemonchosis

• Operators must be trained

• Part of holistic management

DECISIONS AND RECORDS

• The decision is “treat” or “leave”

• If in doubt, score lower

• Rather treat to be safe

• Mark the sheep that are treated

• Add up numbers treated each time

• Numbers per score indicate risk

• Cull sheep needing many treatments

• At high risk times, examine often

DECISIONS AND RECORDS

• The decision is “treat” or “leave”

• If in doubt, score lower

• Rather treat to be safe

• Mark the sheep that are treated

• Add up numbers treated each time

• Numbers per score indicate risk

• Cull sheep needing many treatments

• At high risk times, examine often

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

negligible small moderate high severe

RISK TO FLOCK

%

O

F

F

L

O

C

K

P

E

R

C

A

T

E

G

O

R

Y

1 2 3 4 5

FLOCK RISK EVALUATION USING

FAMACHA SCORING

WHAT ABOUT OTHER

WORMS?

• Require TST measures to reflect need for treatment

• Concentrate on biggest risks

• Trichostrongylus species

• Teladorsagia / Ostertagia species

• Cause similar clinical signs

• Can use the same remedies

• Signs of infection are not specific

• Better than blanket treatments or guessing

• Has been found useful

THE FIVE POINT CHECK©

FOR TARGETED SELECTIVE

TREATMENT IN SMALL RUMINANTS

Gareth Bath & Jan van Wyk

Faculty of Veterinary Science

University of Pretoria

Table 1

Table 2

MONITORING IS PART OF A MUCH BIGGER

PICTURE!

- So we developed a system of sustainable, holistic

internal parasite management in sheep

• Problem: There are over 25 tools and points to be

implemented

• We grouped these into 5 sections of importance

• Each section is important for balanced control

• It was given the name of the “Big Five”

…. easier to remember than twenty five…..

“THE BIG FIVE”

General (Field Marshal)

J C Smuts 1870 - 1950

1926

“the tendency in nature to

produce wholes from the

ordered grouping of units”

(OED)

HOLISM

SHEEP Select rams

Cull ewes

Nutrition

Exposure

Other Diseases

WORM LOAD Grazing period

Grazing pressure

Time of absence

Alternation

Hot Spots

PASTURES Grazing height

Pasture type

Slope

Aspect

Irrigation

MONITOR Dung samples

Sheep

Weather

Grazing

Drug effects

DRUGS Use TST/TT

Label

Dose

Quarantine

Warnings

2

1

3

4 5“THE BIG FIVE”

WORM CONTROL: ...try to use

them all...