Sheep Faecal Egg Counting

• The same age
• The same reproductive status
• Grazing together in the same field
• Having had the same worm treatments. 

• Simply walking around a field and picking up “fresh” faeces samples is not considered to be reliable
• Easiest way to collect faeces is to loosely gather sheep in the corner of a field for 5 to 10 minutes, then let them walk away.  Fresh samples can then be collected from the pasture
• At least 10 sheep should be sampled (this is generally accepted as an acceptable compromise between cost and repeatability).  Each sample should be at least a heaped teaspoon full. 
• Sheep should be healthy and have access to pasture and/or feed before sampling.
• Samples must be fresh when collected (less than 1 hour old) and then kept cool (not frozen) in an air tight container or plastic bag
• The individual faeces samples should be collected separately and will be mixed in our laboratory to ensure a more accurate average result is given
• Samples should be delivered to the Practice on the same day as collection, during Office hours
• If samples are delivered to us before 10am we will try and get a result to you before the end of the day
• If faeces is too old some eggs will have hatched and the FEC will be an underestimate

• We recommend that separate groups of lambs and/or ewes are tested separately; this allows treatment decisions on a group by group basis.  They will not all be the same. 

• White drench, BZ, e.g. Rycoben SC – sample 10 to 14 days after treatment
• Yellow drench, LM, e.g. Levacide 3% – sample 7 days after treatment
• Clear drench, ML, e.g. Noromectin Drench – sample 14 to 16 days after treatment
• Orange drench, AD, Zolvix – no resistance yet

If you would like to discuss faecal egg counting or anything else with regard to worming sheep please telephone the Office.