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FECC

FECC is a Canberra operated equine worm egg counting business. For owners who give a FECC about their horses.

We offer Faecal Egg Count (FEC) and Faecal Egg Count Reduction Testing (FECRT) and results are emailed within 24hrs of testing. FECC content and results are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinarian advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your veterinarian with any questions you may have regarding the medical condition or treatment of your horse.

04/09/2026

Spring has sprung and are you thinking about worming your horse this weekend?? STOP, put the wormer down and read on ....
Did you know that not all horses need to be wormed in Spring but every horse should have a FEC test??
Only those horses that return a FEC of above 200 EPG (Eggs Per Gram) need to be wormed. A FEC test will help to determine if your horse is shedding above 200 epg. Horses that fall below 200 EPG do not need to be wormed in spring. Pregnant mares, foals and horses under the age of 3 require different parasite management plans.
If you just worm without testing simply because "we always worm in spring" you could be exposing your horse to treatments its doesn’t need and contributing to the wormer drug resistance problem by over worming.
Need a FEC? Send a FECC an email or message and we will send you our forms. Testing costs $15 per sample. Drop off locations for testing is available at Horseland Canberra and EQ Saddlery - Canberra
Keep an eye out for our upcoming posts where we will discuss other management practices that can complement your worming program.
Our take home message is TEST BEFORE YOU WORM THIS SPRING.

28/08/2026

Over the last few days many of you may have seen the video below of an operation being performed on a 4-month-old foal that has a large Ascarid (Round worm) impaction. Whilst the foal is now recovering it serves as an important reminder that foals and pregnant mares are on a separate worming plan than other horses. The foal in the video had been wormed for the first time at 4 months of age and possibly with a wormer that was not suitable. Current recommendations are:
• Aim for 4 treatments in first year of life
• First deworming treatment at 2 months of age with a benzimidazole dewormer (eg Panacur or Strategy T) with a FEC before worming to see what's happening.
• Then FEC every 2 months and worm based on the prevalence of ascarids or strongyles
• Next worming should be at weaning at 6 months of age, FEC before worming and again wormer is based on worms present. Should be a moxidectin
• Then FEC and worm at 9 months.
• Then FEC and worm at 12 months.
• Moxidectin + Praziquantel wormers are not to be used on foals under 6 months
• Ivermectin based wormers are generally not recommended for treatment of Ascarids as there is known resistance to this chemical.
• If you have any questions or concerns in regard to worming your foal and pregnant mare please consult your vet.
• General tips - cleanest pastures for foals and young horses. Foals should be placed on the cleanest pasture possible - meaning should have been cross grazed with sheep/cattle to clean up infective larvae after the last horse grazing period. Paddock not grazed by horses since summer as the heat will help kill infective larvae. Poo pick twice a week to keep paddock hygiene high. Do not let foals and yearling/young horses graze together.

"Start early. Test regularly. Treat appropriately."

27/08/2026

SPRING IS ALMOST HERE… BUT DOES YOUR HORSE ACTUALLY NEED WORMING?

Coats are starting to drop and the warmer weather is on its way. With spring comes increased grazing, warmer weather and often rain — conditions that can favour parasite transmission.

But spring does NOT mean every horse needs to be wormed.

Instead, test first. A FEC will help determine whether your horse needs treatment. As a general guide, a result over 200 EPG may indicate treatment is required, alongside your horse’s individual risk factors and parasite management plan.

Worming simply because “we always worm in spring” can mean treating horses unnecessarily — contributing to wormer resistance.

This spring:

TEST to determine if your horse needs worming.

Keep on top of the other management practices that work alongside your worming program.

Keep an eye out for our upcoming posts where we’ll go into more detail about spring parasite management and the simple things you can do to reduce parasite risk.

Test before you worm.

11/08/2026

FECC is open again and accepting samples for testing. We have drop off locations at the following 2 locations during their opening hours - Horseland Canberra and EQ Saddlery - Canberra.
If you wormed before we closed for the last 2 weeks now is a great time to drop off your 14 day post worming sample so we can see if it was effective and to monitor for resistance.

03/07/2026

Early warning that FECC will be closed for a few weeks, its time for our midyear holiday. So now is the time to start planning when you are going to submit a sample before worming and when we can test the follow up sample, 14 days post worming.

Remember all horses need to wormed at this time of year regardless of their FEC result. FECC is only recommending using specific wormers at this time of year. Keeps dogs away from wormers and manure from horses that have been wormed. And as always, Test before you worm.

20/06/2026

At FECC we are always learning. This week we got up at 5 am to attend a lecture on New World Screwworm (NWS). This is not a typical parasitic worm like strongyles but is instead a parasitic fly that lays its eggs on the edges of any wound and the larvae hatch and eats living tissue, NWS is not species specific and will feed on any mammal. Untreated it can have serious health implication and even lead to death. The fact the larvae eats living tissue puts it in stark contrast to other flys we see in Australia which eat dead tissue.

The good news is that the lecture I attended was about the current outbreak in the US and at the moment NWS does not occur in Australia. However it is present in countries to the north of us. IF NWS was to enter Australia it would have significant impact on our livestock industry. Animal Health Australia (AHA) has several monitoring and fly trapping stations in the north of Australia. I have listed two really interesting websites to read more about NWS in the comments of this post.

This post is not meant to alarm anyone about NWS but just to share our recent learning and how we are always searching out new information about equine parasites.

17/06/2026

Its time to worm your horse and remember - ALL horses should be wormed now regardless of their current FEC results.

• FEC before you worm and 14 days after - If you don't FEC before there is no point getting a FEC(RT) afterwards. Doing both tests allows us to monitor for resistance, uncommon parasites, and monitor your horses health.
• Know the weight of you horse - to avoid under or over dosing with the wormer
• Use one of the following wormers - Ultimum, Equest plus Tape, Neovemox plus Tape and Equigel with Tape.
• Don't move paddocks after you worm, you need to wait 1 to 2 weeks and then move - otherwise you are building a population of resistant parasites.
• Keep dogs away whilst worming and from the horse poo of horses that have been wormed for at least 11 days - ALL wormers are toxic to dogs.

05/06/2026

Bots and why FECC recommend the wormers we do for this time of year. In the last few days we have had some questions from clients asking why we recommend using a wormer with Moxidectin and Praziquantel for this time of year and not an Ivermectin based one. These concerns have been raised due to a recently promoted article on Equiimed about Bots (I will post a link in the comments).

Firstly Bots are not the only parasite species we are targeting at this time of year, they are not even top of our list for target species. The top of the list would be Encysted Strongyles which is why we recommend Moxidectin based wormer as it is the most effective drug against Encysted Strongyles. Our next top of the list would be Tapeworms which is why we have the Praziquantel in the wormers we recommend. The list would then go onto large and small Strongyles followed by Bots.

But I hear you all cry the article says moxidectin isn't effective against bots!!! Actually, what the article states is that Macrocyclic Lactones are the only drugs effective against Bots and guess what Moxidectin is a Macrocyclic Lactone. Now of all the drugs in the Macrocyclic Lactone group, Moxidectin isn't the best performing against Bots at an estimated 60% efficacy (according to this article), but it still treats for them. It is also important to understand the lifecycle of Bots and how much of an impact they have on horses, I would argue the greater concern is Encysted Strongyles. The most effective control for Bots is effective fly control and removal of eggs from your horse when you see them.

FECC always supports our clients to do their own research and ask questions, it provides a challenge, allows us to explain why we recommend and provide the advice that we do.

Lastly remember now is the time to carry out your late/autumn worming, all horses need worming now regardless of their FEC results and remember to get an FEC done before you worm to see if your wormer was effective, monitor for drug resistance and keep an eye for uncommon parasites or concerning high FEC results.

03/06/2026

Go Go Go its time to worm your horse and remember - ALL horses should be wormed now regardless of their current FEC results.
Before you worm your horse here a few things we want you to do:
• FEC before you worm and 14 days after - If you don't FEC before there is no point getting a FEC(RT) afterwards. Doing both tests allows us to monitor for resistance, uncommon parasites, and monitor your horses health.
• Know the weight of you horse - to avoid under or over dosing with the wormer
• Use one of the following wormers - Ultimum, Equest plus Tape, Neovemox plus Tape and Equigel with Tape.
• Don't move paddocks after you worm, you need to wait 1 to 2 weeks and then move - otherwise you are building a population of resistant parasites.
• Keep dogs away whilst worming and from the horse poo of horses that have been wormed for at least 11 days - ALL wormers are toxic to dogs.
See our previous post for more helpful hints around worming.

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.

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Canberra, ACT
2605

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