27/08/2024
Barbers pole worm
Barbers pole worm, otherwise known as "haemonchus contortus", is currently on the rise in the local area! Barber's pole is a parasite that particularly affects sheep and goats, but can also infect cattle and alpacas.
Animals pick up the immature worms from the pasture, which then migrate to the fourth stomach (the abomasum) where they attach to the stomach wall and consume blood, developing into adult worms. The adults then lay eggs, which are passed out in the faeces to start maturing in the grass, and the cycle begins again.
The blood these worms consume is what gives them the red stripe, making them look like the old-fashioned barbers pole!
You often won't see any evidence that your animals have these worms until they lose enough blood to start showing signs - these animals often don't have diarrhoea, but may appear lethargic, collapse, or suddenly die.
The most common signs you may see include:
- anaemia (seen as pale gums and a pale conjunctiva/third eyelid)
- lethargy
- bottle jaw (fluid accumulation under the jaw)
- weight loss
- shortness of breath
- sudden death
- occasional diarrhoea
Once an animal is 'down', their chance of recovery is low. Diagnosis of infection is the first step (there lots of things that can present similarly), followed by appropriate treatment and supportive care as they recover and make more red blood cells.
Call us if you have any questions about this, or if you have an animal that sounds like it may have Barber's pole!
A little bit more about worms in general...
If deworming products are used frequently, and the active ingredient is changed often, this is actually the WORST technique to use, and makes the residing worms resistant to multiple types of drench. If used too much, all of the worms in your animal may become resistant to all of the drenches, and can die of excessive worm burdens with no treatment available.
The key to combating resistance is to only deworm when necessary, and to practice rotational and mixed grazing where possible.
To know when to deworm, we strongly recommend bringing in fresh faecal samples from your animals for us to test and tell you how high the worm burden is, and advise you on when and what to drench with.
Once an animal is drenched, keep them in the same paddock for 24 hours to allow the eggs to come out of their system. After this, move them to a paddock that is 'clean.' A 'clean' paddock is one which has not had that species of animal grazing or living on it for months. In hot, dry conditions, a paddock can become clean within 8 weeks. In the cool and wet conditions of winter, worm eggs persist longer, and can remain infective and 'dirty' for up to 6 months. Ideally, retest the faeces 14 days after drenching to ensure the drench has worked and there's no resistance in your flock to the drench you used (there has been resistance going around to the "-mectin" drench family unfortunately)
Please organise a consult with one of our veterinarians if you would like to know more about deworming and resistance, and how to best combat it for your animals.
