Equine Parasitology in Birdwood, South Australia | Professional service
Equine Parasitology
Locality: Birdwood, South Australia
Phone: +61 402 557 867
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25.01.2022 Bot treatment time... remember to treat your horses now regardless of FEC results - bot presence does not show up in FEC tests. Use ivermectin, abamectin or moxidectin. GASTEROPHILUS or Bots Infection occurs during the summer months. Adult flies are active in early summer & have one life cycle per year with 3 larval stages. G. intestinalis (common bot fly) has a yellow egg & mainly deposits on forelegs & flanks of the horse. The egg develops over 5 days & requires moisture &... friction to hatch. Once in the horses mouth, the larvae penetrate the anterior end of the tongue, the buccal mucosa (cheek tissue) or gum at the interdental spaces between the teeth & remain there for approx. 28 days. After wandering in the mucosal tissue in the mouth, larvae moult to 2nd instar stage & pass to the stomach. After 5 weeks in the stomach they moult to the 3rd instar stage with the vast majority of larvae attaching to the mucosa of the oesphageal region. The larvae remain immobile in the stomach for the following 9 - 12 months. Once larvae reach maturity they detach are then passed in the manure & pupate in the soil within 3 - 4 weeks. The adult fly emerges after a 3 - 10 week period and quickly find a mate with mating activity generally occurring in the early afternoon during warm, sunny weather in relative proximity to horses. Within hours of mating the female fly begins host seeking & oviposits her eggs on the horse. The adult fly's life span is 7 - 10 days. The adult fly has non-functional mouthparts & does not feed. Most of the bot eggs you see on your horse are empty cases as the larvae have already hatched & have been ingested by your horse. ***Many horses with high burdens show little if any clinical evidence of infection.*** Treatment - Mectins (ivermectin - Equimax LV & Equimec, abamectin - Equimax, Ammo & MecWorma & moxidectin - Equest) are the compounds of choice for treating bot infection. Treatment should be given after fly activity has ceased & after the larvae have established in the stomach but before gastric damage has occurred. Management - Close vigilance during times of fly activity can help minimise infection by using a bot knife to cut off eggs or washing with warm water & an insecticidal solution inducing the eggs to hatch & killing the larvae. The 1st stage larvae die soon after hatching if they do not reach the mouth of the host. Spraying the horses body with an insecticidal spray ie. Muscoban, or a simple homemade spray from certain herbs will reduce the infection rate. Herbs to be used include lemon balm, lemongrass, basil, tansy, wormwood, lavender or eucalyptus oil. See more
23.01.2022 Has anyone tried this? I use a syringe as I use a bulk wormer (12 horses) & use molasses as a disguise but think this is a brilliant idea!
17.01.2022 New product that may help break the worm cycle
16.01.2022 GET A HEAD START ON YOUR WORM MANAGEMENT. NOW is a great time to harrow your paddocks & get a head start on those worms! With rain forecast for some areas & warm days for the rest of the week it is perfect hatching conditions for strongyle eggs. The EGGS can remain viable in the pasture environment for up to 2 years but the newly hatched LARVAE only have a few days to develop & become ingested by the horse which enables them to reach adult stage & produce more eggs. Once they... hatch they NEED warmth & moisture to survive & develop to a larval stage that has the ability to crawl up grass blades where they have the opportunity to be swallowed by the horse. No horses + no rain + warm dry weather = time up for the strongyle nasties! So get out & break up all that manure in your paddocks to promote larval development, improve manure breakdown & improve water retention in the dry soil. Leave the paddock empty of horses for a few weeks to allow complete desication of all larvae with the dry conditions ahead or even put some sheep, cattle or goats in to 'vaccum' up any lingering larvae - strongyles cant survive the ruminant digestion process. Harrows, an old gate or piece of weld mesh towed behind a quad-bike or even your car will do the trick. Your horses next FEC test will show how effective this can be! See more
08.01.2022 Ivermectin toxicity in foals - it is unnecessary to treat foals this young as the PPP (infection to detection) for most of the main intestinal parasites of horses is longer than 2 weeks.
