Welcome to EggZen, we're here to help you find balance.

Here at EggZen, we aim to help you find the balance between the necessary and unnecessary use of anthelmintics, in an effort to maintain their long-term efficacy.

Strategic and targeted use of anthelmintics is becoming imperative in the fight against anthelmintic resistance. 

Faecal Egg Counts/Worm Counts can provide valuable information to help you decide if deworming should be performed or if it can be delayed or omitted.

Why Test?

Your facilities are unique, your worm management program should be too.

All pasture-grazed animals are exposed to worms as they are naturally found in these environments. Unlike companion animals, such as cats and dogs whose parasites can affect their owners' health if not regularly treated, the goal of deworming pasture animals is not to reach a zero-parasite load, but rather to find a balance between a desirable and pathogenic parasite load. 

• Target the species currently affecting the animals

Pasture-grazed animals are often burdened with multiple worm species at any given time, however, some species may need treating while others are at a desirable load. Certain anthelmintic groups can be used as a broad-spectrum treatment and are extremely useful when the need to target multiple species, but when this is not required, a narrow-spectrum/ targeted treatment would be more beneficial in reducing the rate of anthelmintic resistance. The only way to know is to test before treating! 

• The 80/20 rule!

It has been shown that where good management is used, 80% of the parasite shedding comes from 20% of the animals in the herd/flock. By performing individual FEC's, individuals that are high shedders can be identified and target-treated rather than treating the entire group unnecessarily. This targeted approach means less dewormer is administered and helps to maintain the refugia population, creating less opportunity for resistance to develop at the facility.

• Ensuring the anthelmintic you're using is working

As anthelmintic resistance is being seen around the world, it is imperative that the effectivity of your anthelmintic is assessed to understand if what you are doing is working, and will continue to do so in the future, as the rotation of anthelmintic groups has not been shown to slow down the rate of resistance. Worm populations that have required resistance are only clinically noticeable once a high level of resistance is reached, at which time it is too late and that anthelmintic is no longer useful! At lower resistance levels, sub-clinical symptoms such as reduced growth rate or underperformance can be seen. This is often put down to other factors, such as poor grazing, which may be only part of what is causing these symptoms. For these reasons, performing a drench test for horses and livestock should be part of your deworming program to understand what is happening at your facility.

• After Quarantine treatments

Before introducing new stock to your herd/flock/pastures, performing an FEC after a quarantine treatment will give you peace of mind that you are not bringing worm populations with unknown anthelmintic resistances onto your pastures, protecting your current herds/flocks, as well as future animals.

Deworming should always be performed as part of a parasite management system that includes other management tools such as dung removal or strategic pasture rotation!

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