Why FEC Test?
Faecal egg count (FEC) testing with FECPAK can significantly reduce drench use, increase weight gain, improve animal welfare and decrease the chance of drench resistance occurring.
Visibility of Parasites
FEC testing provides valuable insights into the level of parasites affecting your animals. By knowing this information for individual animals or the entire flock, you can make informed decisions about treatment, livestock grazing, and preventing pasture contamination.
Take the Guesswork out of Your Parasite Management
Without FEC testing, you might treat animals unnecessarily or skip treatment because they seem healthy. Unfortunately, by the time they show signs of needing treatment, the damage and loss of production have already occurred.
Regular FEC testing helps you treat at the right time and improves production outcomes. Regular FEC testing allows you to save time by only drenching when it is necessary, instead of drenching to a pre-set date on the calendar.
Adjust Treatment Schedule
When you use FEC testing to understand the parasite burden in your animals, you can adjust when you treat them, based on evidence. Instead of sticking to a set schedule, you treat them when it's necessary.
- Parasites presence depends on factors like; temperature, moisture, pasture conditions, the type of grass they eat
- Parasites don't follow a calendar
- Most importantly - parasites presence depends on the health of the animal
- A well-fed animal is less likely to have problems with parasites than one that's not in good condition
Understand Larval Challenge
Standard oral drench usually takes 24-48 hours to take effect. When the drench has cleaned out the worm burden in the animal (provided it has worked) animals will start eating parasites from pasture once again and the worm burden will build again. FEC testing with our system records FEC results by animal and by paddock, which helps you know the larval challenge on each paddock.
FEC Test After Treatment
By FEC testing after treatment, you can check that the drench used has worked effectively. Post-treatment FECs for sheep should be conducted 10 days after drenching and for cattle 14 days after treatment.
Integrate FECPAK as Part of Your Parasite Management
Getting started with your own FECPAK unit is simple. All it takes is a short training session and you'll be ready to undertake your own FEC testing without leaving the farm, receiving results within minutes enabling you to make informed treatment decisions. If you ever have questions our experienced team is available to help.