A SHOBDON-based company has been so successful with a herb to combat a killer lamb disease that it has taken on extra staff to cater for the demand.

Zintec Feed Supplements has carried out trials over the past 12 months on many farms in North Wales and the Midlands and have found that the disease coccidiosis has not appeared as usual in lambs fed with the herb extract imuherb.

Said John Williams of Zintech: "Coccidiosis can strike without warning, threatening the lives of young lambs and the whole profitability of the sheep enterprise. While there are one or two licensed drugs available to tackle the problem, it is hoped imuherb can also offer a natural way of reducing lamb losses and improve growth."

Zintec has developed the product for use in their mineral supplements after research found good results when it was used with poultry and game birds.

Said Mr Williams: "Imuherb has been used on ewes prior to lambing, new and growing lambs, and with the difficult market conditions last year was found invaluable at keeping lambs clean and growing to meet buyers requirements."

Mr Williams said that almost all of the farms which had helped trial the product had become regular users.

"Combining imuherb with our already-established supplements for controlling foot rot and orf in one bucket has proved a tremendous success," he added. Imuherb is made available in bucket licks and mineral supplements so farmers can if they wish mix it into their own rations.