Andrew Williams
Andrew Williams
Australian Meat Processor Corporation Award Winner
Pulling the wool over the worms’ eyes
Not all worms are farmers’ friends. Parasitic intestinal worms, for example, are estimated to cost the Australian sheep industry more than $500 million a year in lost profits.
According to Andrew Williams, a PhD student from the University of Western Australia, sheep with parasitic intestinal worms gain less weight and also suffer from a type of diarrhoea known as ‘scouring’.
“Scouring is of particular concern to sheep farmers as the soiled wool is less valuable and the animal is more susceptible to flystrike, which is costly to manage,” Andrew said.
“Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to control these parasites because many are highly resistant to current chemical treatments.”
Andrew believes that the long-term solution is to breed sheep that are naturally resistant.
“Australia has been successful in developing a breed of sheep, known as the ‘Rylington merino’, which is highly resistant to parasites.
“However, scouring still occurs in some resistant animals and, in some cases, is more extreme.”
Andrew’s project will investigate the reasons behind this increased scouring among Rylington merino.
If Andrew’s successful, it may lead to genetic and biochemical markers being developed that could help select sheep that are resistant to worm infection and less susceptible to scouring.
“This would be a major breakthrough in parasite control for the Australian sheep industry.”
“My initial research has indicated that resistant sheep respond to worm infection by mounting an inflammatory immune response.”
“I hope to determine if this immune response may also be the cause of scouring in resistant sheep.”
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