[moprabbit]

I have 5 ewes that were all wormed 5 weeks ago with Paramectin. Today as I went round collecting up some of the droppings (to try to keep the field clean!) I found one lot of droppings with white maggots (worms? ) in it. There was only this one lot - all the other droppings seemed fine. None of the ewes are scouring but one of the lambs is. If I hadn't seen these worms (in the adult droppings) I would just have thought that the lamb was scouring  because I've just moved them onto some better grass. The other lamb in the field however is fine. I was wondering should I worm the lambs, or worm the ewes and the lambs or just wait a couple of days to see if the lamb dries up? Thank you

[jaykay]

There are two possibilities for those white 'maggots'.

Firstly that they were in fact blowfly maggots, laid in the droppings and hatched out since - but you seem to clear up more quickly than that, the droppings would have to be quite old for that (how fast maggots hatch would depend on temperature)?

I think they were probably tapeworm segments. Paramectin doesn't worm against tapeworms, so you might want to drench them with something that does, like Albenil or Ovispec. I've only seen the white bits once, in the droppings from a tup lamb I'd just bought. Mostly we worm against roundworms since they're the big problem but obviously tapeworms turn up sometimes.

Is that what's making your lamb scour - probably not. But if you wormed everyone with something that got tapeworms as well as roundworms, you'd cover that possibility anyway.

[PDO_Lamb]

If conditions have been good for worm development your ewes probably need a drench more often than every 5 weeks. I agree with JayKay - possibly tapeworm segments. Its good practice to change the class of wormer that you use from time to time so, why not choose a brand that covers tapeworm.

[shep53]

Tape worm segments about 8-10mm long and flat. You don't say how old the lambs are ?? or what colour the scour ??    Ewes should not need worming again until the autumn ( unless you wish to treat the tape ) ewes have a tolerance to worms , if you worm to much you can develop worms resistant to certain types of wormer

[moprabbit]

Thanks for all your replies - the lambs are 10 weeks old and the scour was brown in colour. A sheep friend of mine advised me to worm both lambs, which I have now done. Shep53 -  the things I was finding in the droppings were definately not long and flat, there were more like little round white maggots of about the same size 8 - 10 mm. So I wonder what they are?  Thanks

[shep53]

At 10 wks old they are full ruminants and eating lots of grass so ready for worming ( except if on worm free grazing ). Tape worm segments  white looking like a grain of rice 8-10mm long, each one is full of eggs.

[jaykay]

I'd say tapeworm segments can look like large grains of rice/maggots too, I suppose it depends which species. That tup lamb I had, I had to look twice to check they weren't maggots.

[moprabbit]

Shep53 and Jaykay thanks for your expert advice! I went out this morning to check on the lambs and sheep; the lamb that had been scouring the day before I wormed them, had a great long tape worm hanging out of her backend. During the day as I've been out to check I've found lots more of her droppings with definate long pieces of tapeworm - quite revolting! As you'd said it was tapeworm bits that I'd probably seen and thought were just 'worms'  I checked that the wormer I used was suitable treatment for tapeworms. It was! I checked with the vet about the tapeworm and  he said the wormer is obviously working. Keep an eye on the lambs and may be do a faecal egg count in a few weeks time. Is there anything else I should know about tapeworms? Thanks for your expert advice!