Reporting on last Micro Club session October 2009:

21 attended our Microscope session on Thursday 29th October at AREC. This session focused on livestock worm parasites – how to conduct faecal egg counts as a guide to parasite burden or to test for drench resistance and efficacy.
 
We were lucky to have the dry, entertaining humour of Dave Gardiner (Vet for LHPA) for the night, who gave an interesting overview of parasites in livestock. We learned about the characteristics of different parasite species and the factors that need consideration when interpreting worm egg counts such as drench and mob history, livestock nutrient status and stress levels.
Drench resistance is an evergrowing issue so doing faecal egg counts 10-14 days after a drench can tell you whether you may have a resistance problem.
 
If anyone needs to contact Dave, his details as follows:
Dave Gardiner
District Veterinarian
Central North Livestock Health and Pest Authority,
112 Market St, Mudgee, NSW, 2850.
Phone: 02 6372 1866
Mobile: 0428 721 865
Email: david.gardiner@lhpa.org.au
 
Individual blurbs (n/a)

• Where am I now with my soil health?
• Where do I want to be in 3 years with my soil health?
• How do I see the group assisting me with this?

Discussion

Dave’s presentation attached below

http://www.wool.com/Grow_WormBoss.htm is a good website to learn about worm parasites

Also, here are a few of my discussion notes.

• Grazing swampy areas can increase fluke infection (due to a snail in part the Fluke life cycle). So in dry times when these are the last areas for green pick / feed, stock can get flukey
• Parasites can be an indication that you’re overstocked
• Nematodirus eggs are very resistant to dry and cold conditions – can last for 5 months in pasture. Eg; problem when weaner paddocks used each year, even if spelled for 3-4 months, might not be enough to get rid of eggs
• Good diet, healthy body, social balance in stock = more resilience against parasites
• Tall hayed off grass can create a microclimate underneath that is suitable for parasites to hatch and crawl up the green pick growing underneath.
• If selenium deficiency and low copper, then low immunity
• Stud stock breeders need to be reminded they’re selling in to a commercial community / environment and need to breed their stock accordingly.
• Selecting for sheep that do better with some worm burden
• Resistance to drenches becoming more and more common, it pays not to over drench

 Further questions for the online forum…

• What processes / organisms are involved in “getting rid of eggs” in a resting paddock? Is it desiccation of the worm egg? Are there specific predators/pathogenic fungi that attack these parasite eggs in the soil phase? How might we promote the breakdown of parasite eggs in the paddock?
• Healthier animals are more resilient against parasites… why is this? Is it due to other organisms in the gut predating parasite eggs? Is it due to the improved composition of the gut wall lining that makes it more difficult for the worms to latch on? Or do these animals with better nutrition have the same number of worms but just have more nutrients to ‘share around’.

Microscope samples

We worked through a number of faecal samples.
This microscope session was a learning experience on how to find and recognize different eggs.
Interpretation of this requires history of the mob (drench history, mob history, age, nutritional status etc) and egg differentiation tests (where they’re hatched in a lab).
We can do worm egg counts as part of any microscope session – just let me know and we’ll make sure we have the materials needed (if you don’t have these yourself).
 
Homework n/a
 
Details of next session

Our next microscope club session (and last for 2009) will be at AREC on Thursday 26th November.
In addition to microscope work, we have Mike Parish as special guest speaker.
 
Mike has managed sheep, cattle, horticulture and broad acre cropping enterprises for more than 20 years. Over this time, he has discovered and succeeded with a more holistic approach to managing agricultural enterprises, placing a value not only on economic factors but also balancing environmental and social aspects.

He now works with Resource Consulting Services (http://www.rcs.au.com/ - not a typo!) as an educator and consultant, running their GrazingforProfit courses and facilitating other RCS programs.
 
Mike also owns a health food shop in Dubbo and is actively interested in connecting human health with nutritional value of food.
He will talk a bit about the history of agriculture, in particular the industrialization of the food production chain and some of the negative ramifications this has had on modern human health.
 
Mike is involved in a national working group that has formed since the recent Kialoa Dialogue “Restoring Our Landscape”, an initiative of former Governor General Major General Michael Jeffery. This network is looking at how restorative land management practices such as improved grazing management, biological farming, pasture cropping and Natural Sequence Farming can be implemented more widely into the farming community and promoted to State and Federal Governments.
 
Hope to see you then!
 
Cheers
Thea Ridley