Liver fluke is a persistent threat for most sheep farmers. It’s a parasite that infects sheep’s livers, and to try and prevent it we regularly move our animals over to clean pasture. But having seen a couple of ewes looking “fluky” recently – that is, with a slightly swollen jaw – we are dosing the ewes with flukicide today.
We live in a very damp part of the world, which is ideal fluke habitat. On top of that, the higher temperature and rainfall from May to September in 2024 increased the fluke risk, as the ground was wet all year round, causing mud snails (Galba truncatula) to keep on reproducing, and these snails are the hosts for the fluke parasites.
I bring the sheep into the pens in groups of 10 and my son gives them a quick dose of flukicide with a “gun” that fires the correct amount into their mouth. They lick their lips, seeming to enjoy the taste. The medication bottle is held on my son’s back like a rucksack so he has both hands free to administer the treatment. We both have to keep an eye on which sheep have been dosed in case they jostle about during the process.
They are then moved to a specific pasture where sheep graze after they’ve had their medication. This is so that any excess treatment is always dumped into that field in their dung and does not affect the invertebrates, such as dung beetles, in other areas of the farm.
Fluke is just one aspect of sheep health that we have to keep on top of. Last week I went to Grizebeck village hall and heard talks from a local vet about the different diseases and how to keep your flock in good health. In our area there is an increase in sheep scab, caused by the faeces of mites, and it seems dipping is the only solution. Fortunately, we have a mobile dipping service that comes to the farm twice a year. Liver fluke and Haemonchus contortus (barber’s pole worm) were also discussed, and we were reminded that “yellow” wormer (for roundworms and lungworms) and dipping should never be combined, as that can be a fatal combination.
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