FECC

22/05/2026

Heads Up!!! Here in Canberra we are fast approaching our worming period, I suspect it will be next week, we have started to have consistent low overnight temps and a marked decrease in adult bot flys and their eggs. So here are 5 things I want you to know before you worm.
1. ALL horses need worming at this time of year regardless of their FEC result.
2. FECC recommends using a wormer that contains a combination of Moxidectin and Praziquantel.
3. Know your horse's weight - underdosing is a real concern and leads to parasite resistance. Humans are horrible at guessing horse weight we are usually off by around 50 to 80kg.
4. Worm your horse in the morning on a week day - means vets may be more available and you can monitor for side effects in daylight.
5. Getting a FEC test done before and after you worm is the only way to tell if your wormer was effective and help to monitor for drug resistance.
For more information on the points above see our previous posts or feel free to contact us.

18/05/2026

Wednesday 20th of June FECC will be available in Belconnen for in person drop offs. Please contact us to secure a time and location. 🪱🪱💩💩🪱🪱

Send a message to learn more

15/05/2026

Is there a time of day I should worm my horse?

Here in Canberra we are still waiting for consistently cool overnight temperatures and the disappearance of Adult Bot Flys to worm, so until then I thought I would answer some more questions about worming.

If possible worm your horse in the morning after they have had breakfast. By doing this you have all day to monitor them any possible side effects. And you are not trying to check on them at night time.

Worming in the morning also means you might avoid after hour call out fees - this is particularly important in the Canberra area where it can be difficult to get after hours equine vet care. Worming on a weekday to avoid weekends and public holidays call out fees is also a good idea.

Avoid worming before and after stressful events for example don’t worm just before or after a competition.

Things to observe after worming
• Water intake
• Appetite
• If they are passing manure
• and your horses general behaviour and comfort.

09/05/2026

Why underdosing your horse with wormers is such a problem and how to calculate your horses weight - strap in for a long post.
One of the biggest problems we see is people guessing the weight of their horses which then leads to underdosing for worming. This is a problem because wormers contain a specific concentration of active ingredient that is required to be administered to kill the parasites in your horse. When the dosage is too low parasites survive the worming and continue to breed, increasing the population of resistant parasites. Therefore it is very important to determine your horses weight correctly and then give required dose.
Before we go into how to determine your horses weight, Yes we are aware that overdosing can occur and is particularly dangerous for foals, horses with health conditions, low body fat horses and miniatures/ponies. This is again why it's important to select the correct wormer, know your horses weight and read the product information sheet and/or seek veterinary advice.
Recent studies have shown that 85% of owners tend to underestimate their horses weight rather than over estimate, and were out by between 68 to 83 kg!!!! The study also found there was no correlation between the accuracy of estimates and the persons years of experience. This means no matter how long you have been in the horse industry you are still underestimating your horses weight.
There are several ways to determine your horses weight:
Scales - the most accurate method. Most vet clinics have equine scales and several mobile vets in the region have potable scales. There are also some equine professionals such as Integral Equine Nutrition who visit the area and have portable scales.
Public Weigh Bridges - You can take your horse and float over the public weigh bridge, get the amount and then deduct the float weight.
For the methods listed below it is important to note that they still only provide an estimate of weight. They do not take into account things like breed of your horse, age or anatomy of your horse. The calculations below are not suitable for miniature breeds, very tall horses or foals/growing horses.
Body Estimation Formula - This is the preferred method when using a tape measure. You need 2 measurements. Girth - place the tape over the horses back at the base/lowest part of wither and around directly behind the elbow or where the girth sits. Note this may mean the tape is at an angle / this is ok. The second measurement is Length - which is from the point of the shoulder (NOT the middle of the chest) diagonally to the point of the buttock. Keep the tape taut and when reading the hind end measurement stand at the horse back leg and read it without peering around the horses body. The calculation is then Girth (cm) x Girth (cm) x Length (cm) / 11877 and that will give body weight in kg.
Weight Tape - this is tape you buy from most horse shops or feed stores and has the horse weights marked on it. The tape is placed in the same position as the Girth measurement above - behind withers and where the girth sits and then you read the horse weight of the tape with no additional math. This method is considered the least accurate of all methods and is more suitable for monitoring horse condition than actual weight.
General advice for either of the tape methods is be consistent - make sure the horse is standing square on a flat surface, done before a meal, use the same tape and have the same person do the measuring.
What happens if my horse is between the markers on the worming tube - the advice is to round up to the nearest 50kg, never round down.
Our challenge to you is to get prepared for worming and determine your horses weight now.

05/05/2026

Should I get an FEC done for my horse before and after the late autumn/early winter worming treatment.
In FECC's mind the answer is yes!!! Whilst it is not as critical as FEC testing at other times of the year, an FEC before and after worming (FECRT) now still provides us with important information:
• An FEC before and after is the ONLY way to tell if the worming treatment was effective.
• Helps us monitor for drug resistance, this is particularly important when using the moxidectin wormers.
• Detect the presence of uncommon parasites particularly important for young and older horses - whilst not all parasites can be detected in a FEC, they can still find uncommon ones like Roundworms
• Help detect changes in your horses health, especially for older horses - a spike in FEC epg could indicate an impaired immune system which can be investigated by your vet.
• If you are new to FEC's and shedding potentials an FEC now will be the first step in determining your horses shedding potential.
While it is understandable to feel that any recurring cost is a "money grab," FEC tests for horses are actually considered best practice to reduce long-term costs and prevent excessive chemical use.

01/05/2026

What wormer to use for this upcoming late autumn/early winter worming treatment??

There is a lot of conflicting information out there about which wormer to use and it can be confusing.
FECC is recommending you use one the brands pictured and listed below. These wormers will target the most amount of parasites for this time of year, importantly Strongyles (including encysted), Bots, Tapeworms and many more.

But other companies/Facebook/blogs etc say not to use a wormer with Moxidectin (which the wormers pictured/listed do contain) why is FECC recommending the use of them? FECC advice is led by the recently released Australian guidelines for equine internal parasite management which were developed by leading equine parasitologists and vets. Within these guidelines it recommends once yearly use of a wormer that contains Moxidectin and this is the time to use it. Moxidectin has a higher efficacy in penetrating the intestinal walls and targeting encysted strongyles and the larval stages of small strongyles. Which are one of the parasites we focussing on in this worming.

However, we do want to limit the use of wormers with Moxidectin to once a year. This is so we can "preserve" this drug class and not overuse it which will lead to resistance developing. As part of this monitoring for resistance and efficacy we suggest all horses get a FEC and a follow up FEC 14 days post worming (called a FECRT) we can monitor the effectiveness of the wormer and monitor for resistance.

Another reason we do not recommend the Ivermectin/praziquantel wormers at this time of year is because we are trying to encourage and preserve our winter dung beetle species and their populations. Ivermectin is the most lethal of the wormers on dung beetles with toxic level being observed up to 1 month after worming. Moxidectin's aren't as lethal and have a shorter toxicity and are safest for dung beetles.

Recommended wormers: Ultimum, Equest plus Tape, Neovemox plus Tape and Equigel with Tape. These are the wormers that have a Moxidectin/Praziquantel combination.

26/04/2026

Which horses should be wormed in late autumn/early winter.
And the easy answer is ALL of them! - regardless of what their current FEC result is.
Now for the longer answer - One of the goals of evidence-based worming, the practice FEC tests fall under, is to reduce the number of times a year a horse is wormed. We do this by carrying out FEC tests throughout the year which helps us determine if a horse needs worming. 80% of horses will fall into the Low shedding category and therefore can sometimes be reduced to being only wormed once a year, with FECs carried out throughout the rest of the year to monitor for changes. The other 20% of horses will more than likely need to be wormed twice or more throughout the year as they will fall into the medium and high categories.
The critical worming period to target as many parasites as possible and help to break their lifecycles is the late autumn/early winter period. Therefore, if you only worm once a year that is the time to do it. If you are worming more often because of FEC results and shedding categories then this is still the time of year you need to worm your horse.

Our next post will cover which wormers we recommend using and why.

21/04/2026

Hold that wormer!!!
FECC is recommending putting down the wormer and waiting until late autumn/early winter. In the past we have recommended waiting for the "first frost" we do this because it's an easy visible reminder for horses owners in our part of Australia.
BUT..... we need to wait for consistent cooler nights of zero or below, I know in my region we have had some light frosts but overall nighttime temps are not low enough yet or consistent for worming to start so put down the wormer!!!
Why wait? Because we are trying to target as many parasites as possible for this worming treatment. The parasites listed below are the main targets, but we are also treating parasites not listed.
Bot Flys. We are trying to break the bot fly lifecycle which will lead to a reduction of the adult bot fly population. So, we wait until the entire bot fly population is inside your horse - no longer flying/laying eggs on coat, and they are in the correct place in the gut to be susceptible to the wormer.
Tapeworms should be treated for once a year and waiting till late autumn/ early winter is the lifecycle stage they will susceptible to the worming treatment.
Encysted Strongyles - if present will begin emerging slowly at this time of year and this is preferable. If you worm too early you may trigger a mass emergence which may lead to medical complications.
If you are in warmer areas, northern Australia, tropical areas that dont experience the cooler temps - feel free to message us for advice on what to do in this situation.

11/04/2026

A great opportunity to organise for your horse to be weighed before the "mandatory" worming period in late autumn/early winter. Knowing your horses weight is an essential part of successful worming plan for your horse. Also a great opportunity to discuss your horses nutrition requirements.
NOTE: FECC is not organsing this, we are just sharing the post as information and a great opportunity. Please contact Integral Equine Nutrition for information and bookings.

Canberra/Wagga trip planning time!

I am currently planning my next trip for late May, with Wagga spots likely around Friday 29 May and Saturday 30 May, and Canberra spots likely Saturday afternoon and Sunday 31st.

I will already be in Wagga giving a presentation on the Friday evening and the Saturday morning, so I have a limited number of consultation spots while I am in the area before I travel back via Canberra region for my semi-regular Canberra visit!

Depending on demand, I may also be able to fit in a few horses between Sydney and Wagga on the Friday.

Dates are not completely locked in yet, but I need to work out where the main demand is, what areas make the most sense and whether Canberra is better Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning or both.

If you are considering booking a consultation, or a group weigh in, fill out the form below so I can start mapping things out.

Please only fill it out if you are genuinely considering booking if suitable times are available 🙂 If you filled in the EOI a few weeks ago, I will be in touch soon.

https://pevgbfms.paperform.co

04/02/2026

FECC has reopened for the year 🎉 and all of our drop off locations are now open and ready to accept samples.
A few worming reminders:
Summer is generally when we don't worm our horses as the high temperatures are enough to kill eggs and larvae, there are exceptions to this - foals/young horses, horses with health conditions, high shedders etc.
The best way to know if you need to worm is get an egg count done.
Bot flies are out and about - now is NOT the time to worm for them as they are not in the correct part of the horse. Instead removing eggs from your horse is the best thing you can do. See our recent post on this topic.
Reports of pinworms infestations have been seen - remember just because your horse has an itchy tail does NOT mean it has pinworms. There are other signs that need to be observed, and it could be another reason. See our recent post on this as well.
As always test before you worm, and if in doubt contact FECC and we can talk about your options.