We have just got our latest faecal egg counts back and they are very encouraging – our vet is a happy man. In our sloping fields where the sale animals, the weanling boys and the stud males live, the counts were <10 for trichostrongyle and strongyloides with very low coccidial oocyst counts eveywhere on the farm. There are some groups of animals with higher trichostrongyle counts of 100 but nothing to worry the vet. This type of monitoring means that we can tailor a worming programme to avoid, as much as possible, resistance to the existing drugs. Joshua went back to university yesterday - he has been marvellous doing a great deal of work in the garden and splitting loads of logs. As he is a raw pea lover I rushed out and planted the first row of peas yesterday and some beetroot for Chas. The garden is looking very tidy apart from a few thistles that had the temerity to emerge - ha, not for long, they have been uprooted and despatched. We had a long morning with the vet John reading the bTB tests on 12 animals who we are taking to France - all clear - and health certificates on animals we have sold. Then he ran out of fuel and was stuck in the layby at the top of the lane. John is renowned for being forgetful having left his stethoscope behind many, many times. Then Teresa Cullen from Hayne Alpacas arrived with a load of blood to spin down into plasma in our centrifuge. The blood bags were very full which is how they should be and we got a good haul of plasma for her.
