SMART WORMING 

horse with sunrise
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Simply monitor

Assess the worm burden and treatment needs of each horse individually

  • Faecal egg count (FEC) every 8-12 weeks through the grazing season
  • Test for tapeworm in autumn (and spring if at increased risk)
  • Consider testing for encysted redworm in autumn
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Horse

Assess the risk

Ask yourself whether your horse has any of the following risk factors

  • 4 years old or under
  • Grazing with youngstock
  • High stocking density
  • Poo picking less than twice a week
  • Repeated high FEC
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Horse eating gras

Treat accordingly

Choose an appropriate treatment regime based on your findings

  • Targeted treatment for redworms and tapeworms (and roundworms in youngstock) based on test results
  • Routine treatment in winter for encysted redworm may be appropriate for at risk horses
     
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Head of horse

Did you know?

  • For every 5 adult horses grazing, only 1 will need treatment. This means that when we worm every horse without looking at their infection levels or risk factors, 4 out of 5 horses are wormed unnecessarily1.
  • SMART worming is proven to be cheaper1.
  • Parasites aren’t all bad; it is beneficial to maintain a low level of sensitive worms called ‘refugia’ on the pasture.
  • Overworming is contributing to the widespread development of worms that are resistant to treatment. It’s important that we stop over-worming now in order to prevent a situation where we can’t protect our horses from the effects of worms because there are no effective treatments1.
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