Testing this winter is the key to liver fluke control, say industry experts

Advice from the National Sheep Association (NSA) on behalf of SCOPS, is worth studying for a fluke-free flock all year round.

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The level of liver fluke is forecast to be relatively low for much of the UK, but the risk to grazing livestock on individual farms is becoming less predictable.

That is the warning from experts in the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) and Control of Cattle Parasites Sustainably (COWS) groups, who say diagnostic testing is critical to make sure farmers don't treat too soon, or unnecessarily, or get caught out and miss a vital treatment.

A dry summer like 2022 means there are fewer areas where the intermediate host for the liver fluke, a mud snail, can survive, and without moisture the flukes themselves find it difficult to migrate to pasture. However, not all of the country was so dry, and even within a farm, wet, boggy areas may have allowed the liver fluke to complete its lifecycle, creating highly infected areas where the livestock may congregate to drink.

Professor Diana Williams of the University of Liverpool says: "The implications for livestock farmers are that many will not need to treat while others will need to treat but the timing of treatment(s) may be later than they expect. The only way ensure treatments are necessary and given at the right time is to test."