Fecal Egg Counts Go Back Up

Fecal egg counts on August 14 were significantly higher than two weeks prior. They ranged from 25 to 12900 eggs per gram (epg) and averaged 2444 ± 2519 epg. The median egg count was lower at 1675 epg, as several high egg counts skewed the average. Two weeks prior, fecal egg counts averaged 533 ± 733 epg, and the median was 288 epg.

Despite the high overall average, eleven bucks (15%) had fecal egg counts below 500 epg. Another twelve (17%) had egg counts below 1000 epg. In total, forty-one bucks (58%) had egg counts below 2000 epg. Unfortunately, ten bucks (14%) had really high fecal egg counts, more than 5000 epg.

Noteworthy: all of the bucks in the Adams (IL) consignment had fecal egg counts below 1200 epg. All of the bucks in the Burke (DE) consignment had egg counts below 2000 epg. All of the bucks in the Murphy (NJ) and Peters (NC) consignments had egg counts below 2500 epg.

With one data point remaining, many bucks in the test are still meeting the "original" Gold, Silver, and Bronze standards of performance for parasite resistance, not having fecal egg counts above 1000, 1500, and 2000 epg, respectively. Noteworthy:  404 (Adams), 433 (Heise, PA), and 471 (Stemme, TX) have not had fecal egg counts above 1000 epg during the duration of the test. These bucks are also not missing any data points due to deworming or lack of sample.

The COWP gel cap given on July 17, along with nine anthelmintic treatments, is credited with reducing egg counts (on July 31) by more than 80 percent. On August 28, all of the bucks will be given a second gel cap (0.5 g) of copper oxide wire particles (COWP).

Download August 14  FEC (d-70) Report