Determining The Right Sheep Dose

After the wet season gets over and the dry season starts, sheep enjoy grazing on large amounts of newly grown vegetation. During such days, the most important job of a farmer is to keep internal parasitic infestation among sheep at bay. No doubt, 100% elimination of worms is virtually impossible. However, it is important to take all the measures since unchecked worms can lead to a lot of damage, especially to lambs. Sometimes parasite infestation may even lead to sudden death in animals. This situation can be averted by timely use of sheep wormers. However, make sure to administer the right sheep dose so that the condition can be effectively treated and your sheep stay healthy and productive.

You must first determine if the sheep needs to be wormed. For this you must keep a constant watch on your property to see if the sheep are showing signs of persistent clear snotty nose, loss of appetite, anemia (swelling under the jaw, membranes around the eyes and light coloured gums), alertness and coughing. You should also take into consideration the farm management practices you follow, parasite life cycle and weather conditions in order to reduce the risk of internal infestation among sheep by reducing contamination of pasture from parasite eggs and larva. Also, regular worm tests should be conducted on all the animals periodically to keep a check on parasite infestation. For this, you need to take samples of fecal passed by many sheep on your property and get them tested by a vet. It is quite inexpensive. Considering regular worm testing on sheep is important and the process is very easy, you may as well buy a microscope and a testing kit to do it yourself. Sheep found infected must be given proper medication considering proper sheep dose as mentioned on the label of the medicine bottle.

Incorrect dose will lead to undesired results. That is to say, a low dose would be ineffective whereas an overdose could prove lethal. Right sheep dose is especially important in case of supplements that contain copper. Excessive concentration of copper in the sheep can be toxic. It starts accumulating in the sheep's liver and the animal may not even show sudden signs of toxicity. However, the common symptoms are increased stress, loss of appetite, depression and excessive thirst.

An easy trick to administer the exact amount of sheep dose is to know the exact weight of your sheep. It is ideal to set the dose for the heaviest of all animals in the group rather than the average before you start deworming them. Carrying out a worm test to determine the percentage of worm in the sheep's faeces can help determine the right amount of dosage. Keep in mind the higher the percentage of worms in the facel, the higher will be the dose. The ideal amount of the best sheep wormers is 1 ml per 5 kg bodyweight in case of both Combinex and Supaverm, and 2 ml per 10kg bodyweight in case of Levitape.