Coccidia (plural: coccidiosis) are single-celled parasites that can cause short-term diarrhea, especially in young animals. The diarrhea usually resolves within a few weeks, but the eggs (oocysts) can remain in the environment for years and continue to infect other animals.
Coccidia can survive well both on pasture and in the barn. Lambs have no natural immunity to coccidiosis, which leads to increasing contamination every year.
There are many different types of coccidia, of which only a few cause symptoms. Depending on the type of coccidiosis with which the lambs are infected, the symptoms can be mild or very severe. The first signs of a coccidia infection are usually reduced growth and diarrhea. Sometimes blood may also be seen in the diarrhea. It is also often observed that lambs strain when trying to defecate. This happens because coccidia cause irritation and straining in the intestinal wall. In severe cases, the straining can be so intense that lambs prolapse their rectum. In other cases, lambs may only have mild diarrhea, but it is especially noticeable that they lose weight or stop growing. Sometimes lambs drink much more in an attempt to compensate for fluid loss due to diarrhea. When lambs become severely weakened from weight loss or dehydration, they eventually lie down and often stop eating as well.
Coccidia can be detected through fecal testing. At Worm&Co, we routinely screen for coccidia. If our analysis shows that your lamb is infected, we will provide you with a personalized treatment plan. This ensures your lamb’s health comes first and unnecessary deworming is avoided. Unfortunately, treatments against coccidia are only effective for a short period. Therefore, we advise moving your lamb to fresh pasture or a new stable to reduce the risk of (re)infection.
Prevention is better than cure. Because lambs contaminate their own environment, it is important to prevent them from becoming infected. Hygiene plays a key role: the less lambs come into contact with their own droppings, the lower the risk of infection.
In the stable, you can take several measures mainly aimed at keeping the environment clean. Always offer feed to the lambs from a hay rack, feeding trough, or feed fence. This prevents the feed from coming into contact with their droppings and reduces the chance of ingesting oocysts. In addition, make sure lambs are kept on clean, dry straw. If the surface they live on is clean, the risk of infection is lower.
When lambs are on pasture, it is impossible to prevent them from eating off the ground, so other measures are necessary. The best practice is to move lambs to fresh pasture every 2 to 3 weeks. By also keeping the stocking density low, lambs can graze around their own droppings. Finally, we recommend allowing higher grass when rotating pastures, so lambs do not have to graze too short. These measures reduce the chance that lambs ingest their own shed oocysts and increase infection pressure.
Finally, it is important to perform worm examinations frequently (4 times a year), so that a coccidia infection can be detected at an early stage. Feel free to contact our team if you have any questions; we're happy to help.
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