The Rural Voice, 1997-11, Page 11Scrap Book
Australian
researchers seek
resistant sheep
Researchers in Australia are
working on a breeding program
designed to build a worm -
resistant sheep to counteract the
the increasing number of worms
that are immune to traditional
drug treatments.
Sandra Eady, an animal
production researcher with the
Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organ-
ization, (CSIRO) said worms in
at least 90 per cent of sheep
grazing in Australia's higher
rainfall areas now are showing
some resistance to the three
main groups of drugs used to
treat worms.
"Our latest information is that
things are getting worse for
sheep farmers in New South
Wales, Victoria, Western
Australia and South Australia,"
she said. "And there are no new
drugs on the horizon."
It's a $200 million (Cdn) a
year problem in production
losses and treatment costs.
But researchers have
discovered that some sheep are
resistant to parasites such as
Barber's Pole worms. By count-
ing worm eggs in the feces of
sheep and comparing them with
the average fecal count for that
particular flock, breeders can
identify more resistant sheep.
Sheep ranchers can then select
rams that are worm resistant for
their breeding programs. CSIRO
research has shown egg counts
can be halved in a flock after
three or four generations of
selection and ranchers may be
able to stop drenching their
sheep altogether after 12-15
years of a selection program.
One breeder now includes
information on worm resistance
along with other traits of his
rams.0
— Source: Western Producer
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