Thiophanate as a low daily dosage anthelmintic in sheep.

Abstract

Thiophanate administered daily at low dosages reduced nematode faecal egg output, egg hatchability and parasitic worm burdens in treated lambs and ewes. Six daily doses of 1 or 3 mg per kg thiophanate (approximately 1/25th to 1/75th of the median therapeutic dose), given to lambs experimently infected with Trichostrongylus colubriformis, were partially effective in suppressing faecal egg output and egg hatchability. Six doses of 5 mg per kg per day were effective in lambs infected with Haemonchus contortus and Nematodirus spathiger. Daily doses of thiophanate (50 or 200 mg per head) given over 14 weeks to lambs grazing contaminated pasture resulted in improved productivity (the higher dosage) and suppression of output of viable eggs and reduced worm burdens (both dosages). Reduced output of viable eggs was also obtained in housed, lactating ewes receiving 5 or 7 mg per kg thiophanate dispersed daily in the feed for 11 or nine weeks respectively after lambing.