New Community Lab will empower farmers to manage parasite infestations sustainably
Around 150,000 people are employed through sheep farming in the UK, with around 30 million sheep and lambs farmed. A key challenge for the industry is parasites, something that can be very painful and dangerous for sheep. Due to the practicalities of assessing whether an animal has a parasitic infection, it can be easier to give regular worming treatments than to test, but this in turn can lead to wormer resistance.
Nationally, farmers have come together to take action and have developed a best practice approach called Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) which aims to reduce the number of resistant parasites overall, and to improve the effectiveness of treatments when they are needed. An important element of the SCOPS approach is testing of sheep dung to establish which sheep and pastures may be infested.
A group of farmers near the village of Luppitt in the Blackdown Hills National Landscape came up with the idea of sharing laboratory facilities to enable more of them to access reliable data. The Blackdown Hills National Landscape team was able to fund the creation of the Luppitt Community Laboratory with £1820 of Farming in Protected Landscapes funding.
The community lab before conversion
The funding enabled the farmers to convert a small building next to the village pub, installing scientific equipment for faecal analysis. An open evening gave an opportunity for the local farming community to view the new facilities and sign up for training in how to assess the worm burden in flocks through faecal worm egg counting. At the training evening some attendees brought along samples for testing and went away with new-found confidence in using the lab equipment, and useful data to help them make informed decisions about sustainable wormer use in their flocks.
The lab is now open for use on weekdays from 9am to 5pm.
The community lab after conversion.
Amy Taverner
The community lab in use.
