Choosing the appropriate liver fluke dose

As liver fluke is a large risk at the moment, Teagasc’s Dr Orla Keane joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss selecting the appropriate treatment for this stage of the season. Firstly Orla gives a quick recap on the risk that fluke poses and the stages of its development. She discusses the various classes of flukicide available with Orla explaining what stage of fluke they are suitable to treat and the role others could play later in the season. Orla highlights the challenge of using combination fluke and wormers as part of routine fluke treatment in adult sheep and why it’s better to use a targeted flukicide; she also discusses the situations where these combinations could be put to better use. Finally, Orla highlights the need to use a flukicide that targets the immature stage of liver fluke at this point in the season. A summary of flukicides licensed for sheep in Republic of Ireland can be found here: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2018/Products-licensed-for-control-of-parasites-in-sheep.pdf For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast