The Availability of the Infective Stages of Nematode Parasites to Sheep in Early Spring

Abstract

Previously uninfected eleven month old sheep were used as indicators of the availability of the infective larvae of sheep nematodes in early spring. Ostertagia and Nematodirus species were acquired in much larger numbers than other species. It is concluded, since the order of parasitism found in the experimental sheep resembled that found in spring born flock lambs in early life, that the relative specific incidence is the latter is due to the numbers of available infective larvae and not to any factor associated with the stage of development of the lambs.