Journal article
The effects of parasitism on ewes for prime lamb production in western Victoria
B Kirk, JWA Larsen, N Anderson, MA Stevenson
ANIMAL PRODUCTION SCIENCE | CSIRO PUBLISHING | Published : 2021
DOI: 10.1071/AN20414
Abstract
Context: Internal parasites are estimated to cost the Australian sheep industry AUD436 million per annum (p.a.). Aims: To assess the effects of parasitism in flocks producing prime lambs in the 500-700 mm p.a rainfall. area of Victoria. Methods: Ewes on two farms that followed 'best practice' gastrointestinal parasite control programs (BP) and two farms that did not (regionally typical, TYP) were compared. Separate cohorts of ewes were monitored from pregnancy scanning to their subsequent joining each year for three consecutive seasons. Observations included worm egg count (WEC), bodyweight, condition score and presence of breech soiling (dag). These were compared between groups that were tr..
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Awarded by Meat and Livestock Australia
Funding Acknowledgements
The corresponding author received a Melbourne Research scholarship from the University of Melbourne; the Lifting the Limits project and the authors are grateful for the support in both cases. The Lifting the Limits project (B.AHE.0045) was funded by Meat and Livestock Australia and the authors are grateful for their support. The authors thank Merial, Novartis and Virbac for providing product for use in the study. The authors also thank Dianne Rees, Kelly Stanger, Leah Tyrell, Angus Campbell, Helen McGregor, Fiona Koch and Ebi Bani Hassan for their technical assistance, and the participating farmers. We are also grateful for the enormous expertise and support of Dr Norman Anderson, who unfortunately passed away during the preparation of this paper.