Anthelmintic resistance in Northern Ireland (II): Variations in nematode control practices between lowland and upland sheep flocks

A questionnaire to obtain information on nematode control practices and sheep management was sent to over 1000 farmers in Northern Ireland. Replies were received from 305 flock owners, and data from 252 of them were analysed. Farms were divided into lowland and upland areas. Sizes of pasture and stocking rates on lowland and upland farms were 59.5 hectares, 6.99 sheep/hectare and 62.9 hectares and 10.01 sheep/hectare, respectively. Mean drenching rates for lambs and adults were 2.33 and 2.44, respectively, in lowland flocks and 2.73 and 2.71, respectively, in upland flocks. Between 2008 and 2011, the most frequently identified compounds in use were benzimidazoles and moxidectin in lowland flocks, and benzimidazoles and avermectins in upland flocks. Over the same period the most frequently identified commercial formulations were Tramazole (R), Panacur (R) and Allverm (R) (white drench), Levacide (R) (yellow drench), Oramec (R) (clear drench; avermectin), Cydectin (R) (clear drench; moxidectin) and Monepantel (R) (orange drench).

Most respondents (56.35%) treated their lambs at weaning and the most common time to treat ewes was identified to be pre-mating (67.86% of respondents).

The results of the questionnaire survey revealed that lowland annual drench frequency was 233 and 2.44 in lambs and ewes, respectively, although drench frequencies were higher in upland flocks: 2.73 and 2.71 for lambs and ewes, respectively.

Annual drench rotation was practiced by 43.96% of flock owners, but whether this was true rotation or pseudo-rotation (i.e., substitution of one anthelmintic product by another product belonging to the same chemical group of anthelmintics) could not be explicitly determined. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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M Dwarf Flare Continuum Variations on One-second Timescales: Calibrating and Modeling of ULTRACAM Flare Color Indices

We present a large data set of high-cadence dMe flare light curves obtained with custom continuum filters on the triple-beam, high-speed camera system ULTRACAM. The measurements provide constraints for models of the near-ultraviolet (NUV) and optical continuum spectral evolution on timescales of ≈1 s. We provide a robust interpretation of the flare emission in the ULTRACAM filters using simultaneously obtained low-resolution spectra during two moderate-sized flares in the dM4.5e star YZ CMi. By avoiding the spectral complexity within the broadband Johnson filters, the ULTRACAM filters are shown to characterize bona fide continuum emission in the NUV, blue, and red wavelength regimes. The NUV/blue flux ratio in flares is equivalent to a Balmer jump ratio, and the blue/red flux ratio provides an estimate for the color temperature of the optical continuum emission. We present a new “color-color” relationship for these continuum flux ratios at the peaks of the flares. Using the RADYN and RH codes, we interpret the ULTRACAM filter emission using the dominant emission processes from a radiative-hydrodynamic flare model with a high nonthermal electron beam flux, which explains a hot, T ≈ 104 K, color temperature at blue-to-red optical wavelengths and a small Balmer jump ratio as observed in moderate-sized and large flares alike. We also discuss the high time resolution, high signal-to-noise continuum color variations observed in YZ CMi during a giant flare, which increased the NUV flux from this star by over a factor of 100. Based on observations obtained with the Apache Point Observatory 3.5 m telescope, which is owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium, based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias, and observations, and based on observations made with the ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory under programme ID 085.D-0501(A).