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Paul Nilon, Nilon Farm Health, Tasmania (pandonilon@bigpond.com):

Many areas of Tasmania have been given a “get out of jail” card. Widespread rain over many of the dry areas combined with a mild autumn has broken the season. We now have dry dust, which will soon become sheep feed, if not cattle tucker. WECs have remained low and clients are not reporting dagging or scouring. Unlike last year it seems as if the dry summer and autumn have set the stage for a manageable, low worm winter. However, as the wise old ram said: “there are always one or two buts”

Lambs on short rotation rye grass, particularly if it’s irrigated will probably have rising/large Ostertagia contamination to deal with. Monitor them closely.

Lambing paddocks should be planned now. Use WEC data from mobs that have grazed the lambing paddocks over the autumn to judge the need for long acting drenches pre-lambing.

There has been enough of a break to start using the “smart-grazed” paddocks. Drench weaners on to them with an effective drench.

Download the May edition of Tasmania worm update in PDF format (73Kb)