Waging the war on worms

Funding:  Australian Wool innovation (AWI)

Partners:  Paraboss, Dawbuts and University of New England

Project Duration:  October 2017 – Dec 2019

Amount:  $26,000

Project Results
Taken from the final report compiled by AWI and UNE.

The project results have confirmed the long-held WormBoss message that while the results of drench resistance tests do have some common regional or national trends, there can be considerable differences in efficacy of the older actives, particularly against barber’s pole worm.

In particular, for the MFS group, these conclusions were made:

• All farms had some drench resistant worms.

• Results are farm-specific; to really understand the status on a property, a drench resistance test there is critical.

• Barber’s pole worm was present on almost all farms tested in the Monaro and accounted for 60% of the overall egg output. Barber’s pole is the major worm issue for producers in the Monaro district.

• Barber’s pole worm has the most control options, but there is a high level of resistance to the mectins. Levamisole is still effective on a large proportion of farms (>90%) and closantel was still effective on 60% of farms. 

• The newer Zolvix® and Startect® drenches are working on all farms that were involved in the trials.

• Triple (BZ/Lev/ML) combination drenches were effective on most, but not all of the farms. 

• BZ/Levamisole combination resistance was very prevalent. 

Project Results

See opposite for results of the drench resistance trials and project updates.