Epidemiology of Sheep Nematodes in Sub-Arctic Greenland: Sources of Infection on Rangeland Grazing

• Published in: Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
• Main Authors: Rose, C. H., Jacobs, D. E.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: BioMed Central 1990
• Subjects: Article; Arctic; Greenland; greenlandic
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8133297/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2080778; https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03547546

Sources of nematode infection on the rangelands of a southern Greenlandic sheep farm were investigated as a part of a study of the epidemiology of Ostertagia and Nematodirus infections in a sub-arctic climate. Herbage larval counts were performed on samples collected from selected localities on the rangeland and post mortem wormcounts made on tracer lambs that had grazed these areas for the latter part of the summer season. Relatively high concentrations of larvae were found in good quality native grasses at sea-level and in grasses growing beneath canopies of willowshrub at higher altitudes. In general, however, the infectivity of the vegetation was very low and the pick-up of infection by the tracer lambs was correspondingly small.