After a brief period of technical problems with weather data, which have now been resolved, the SCOPS Nematodirus Forecast is available again, at no charge to users.
Lesley Stubbings of SCOPS said this is just in time, as we are entering a high-risk period for nematodirus with many orange, red and even black dots on the map.
Ms Stubbings said: “The SCOPS Nematodirus Forecast shows many locations around England and the Scottish Borders are now at moderate risk, and we expect to see more lower lying areas moving to high risk in the next few days. This means a hatch is likely to take place within seven to 14 days if warm weather persists. Lambs most at risk are six to 12 weeks of age.
“When the weather station in your locality shows a risk, it is vital you carry out a risk assessment to decide whether you need take action, such as drenching or moving lambs to lower risk grazing that was not grazed by lambs last spring, to avoid a high challenge.”
SCOPS is able to provide the Nematodirus Forecast at no cost to the end user thanks to the sponsorship of Bimeda and Techion (FECPAKG2). The weather data is now provided by Visual Crossing.