Worm-Heat-Map-Latest-July

Surprisingly, we have seen a jump in average WEC for June on the Northern Tablelands, returning the highest average WEC since February.  This is an important reminder that summer and autumn pasture contamination can continue to challenge sheep through these cooler months.  While frosts may indicate the weather is too cold for worm eggs to develop, this surprising result shows that infective larvae can survive the chilly weather. Young sheep weaned earlier in the year are most vulnerable, but all classes remain at risk from high barber’s pole worm challenge. 

On the western side of the region, the average worm egg count continues to decline from its summer peak with most WECs falling below 250 epg during the month.

With 180 samples submitted, the eastern side of the central NSW region has seen a large drop in average WEC in June, with the average WEC going from 726 epg in May to 297 epg in June.  While this data suggests that farmers have some respite from barber’s pole worm, it is important to remember that in winter other worms, such as black scour worm, may become more prevalent.  As these worms have lower fecundity (lay less eggs), lower egg counts may still require infestations at levels that still require treating to optimise production and health.

On the western side, similar patterns in WECs have been observed, albeit lower overall than compared to the east.
 

The region continues to see a declining average WEC, with both eastern and western regions now showing a low challenge, highlighted in green. Of note, the low egg count in the east is in contrast to the same time last year, when WECs remained very high into June.  The limited rainfall until last month has helped keep worm challenge low, with June rainfall only likely to be reflected in samples processed in July.

The average WEC in western Victoria remains very low and the region still shows as green, representing low challenge.  However, with some rainfall occurring across the region in June, now is a good time to test mobs. Not enough samples have been submitted from other regions in Victoria to provide commentary. 

Worm challenge in the south-east of the state declined and has returned its lowest average WEC for a long period of time. 50% of the results were in the 0 to 250 epg category, with only 6% of the results above 250 epg. While fewer samples were submitted from the Fleurieu Peninsular, the results paint an almost identical picture.

In Western Australia, the southern region worm challenge reduced compared to last month, but still remains high, shown as yellow. 20% of samples returned a WEC above 750 epg, indicating significant worm challenge on some farms in this region. In the central region, worm challenge remains low, with 90% of egg counts remaining below 250 epg. Rainfall through winter months in this region will add to the worm challenge. This is important for lambing ewes and young lambs that are highly susceptible to worm infection. For young sheep, their natural immunity to worms will not develop until they are several months of age.

After a temporary transition to the yellow category last month, Tasmania has now returned to green, indicating low worm challenge.  With good rainfall throughout June, now is a good time to test to ensure the winter worm challenge does not get out of control.

Latest-Rainfall-Map-July