Worm-Heat-Map-Latest

Worm infections have risen across the region as the season progresses with good summer rainfall. Over 40% of egg counts have been greater than 1000 epg, indicating that high worm burdens are widespread across the region. In adult ewes, the risk of mortality for sheep with a WEC above 1200 epg is nearly 4-fold greater than sheep with a WEC below 1000. Regular monitoring of all mobs will help timing of treatments, with extra attention required for sheep recently weaned. If you have pulled the trigger early on using a long-acting drench, remember to test efficacy during the payout period as we are still in peak barber’s pole worm season.

This region continues to have a high worm risk, but unlike its northern neighbours, WECs are more broadly spread across a range and not skewed to extremely high counts. This means that while many high WECs are being returned, many farmers who have tested their sheep and found low WECs will not have needed to drench. Economic analysis shows that the cost of monitoring is an investment that reduces the cost of parasites. As we move out of summer, our treatment thresholds can increase - see the Wormboss Drench Decision Guide for specifics for classes of sheep.

Compared to December, WECs have increased on the south-western slopes of NSW and the western Riverina.  The number of very high counts continues to increase compared to previous months, suggesting the need for vigilance over this period. For producers in the Wormboss region of the eastern Riverina, February is a key time for treating sheep if WEC is > 150 epg. Based on this dataset, most producers will need a treatment this year. Further eastwards, 50% of results indicate a treatment would have been required.  The other 50% of samples suggest that producers would have been able to watch more of the cricket.

Our heatmap colour moves up a category this month for both south-west Victoria and the Wimmera regions. Wimmera is a moderately low risk area, with most counts below 250 epg. In contrast, south west Victoria is showing some high-risk results with 20% of samples retuning a WEC > 1000 epg, and 40% of results indicating a second summer drench should have been implemented. A good lambing season requires effective summer worm control and an uplift of testing in this region hopefully means producers are being vigilant about the timing of a second summer drench. 

In the east of Victoria, the BOM indicates another good month of rainfall that will have increased the risk from worms. The few samples received from this region indicate a moderate to high risk.

All four colours made it on the map for South Australia. Risk was lowest on the York Peninsula, followed by the Eyre region, with the Fleurieu Peninsula and the South-East having the highest risk. In the South-East where the most samples have been submitted, WECs were widely distributed. Concerningly for this region, more than 60% of the results were above treatment thresholds for the region, and a significant number of results above 750 epg. While rainfall has been below average, producers with high counts or irrigation should confirm worm species that they are targeting with their drenches.

On the Esperance Plains, the intensity has remained at light red. While 80% of counts were very low, the remaining samples had extremely high WECs for this region and influenced this region’s average.

In the central ag region, the average WEC increased and the region returned to light red. Worm counts in this region were more evenly spread, with a significant number of results indicating a treatment required.

Worm challenge is moderately low in eastern Tasmania with very few producers needing to drench in response to a WEC above a treatment threshold. From the available data, it appears barber’s pole worm is not causing issues in this region yet.

 

We hope you find these updates valuable.  As more data is submitted, our ability to drill down into zones within each region will improve. Let us know what else you would like to see. And get those sample submitted!

Rainfall-Map-Latest-January