Veterinary Parasitology 209 (2015) 138–141 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Veterinary Parasitology jou rn al hom epage : www.elsevier.com/locate/vetpar Short Communication Establishment rate of sheep gastrointestinal nematodes in farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus) D. Tapia-Escárate, W.E. Pomroy ∗ , I. Scott, P.R. Wilson, N. Lopez-Villalobos Institute of Veterinary Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 14 May 2014 Received in revised form 15 December 2014 Accepted 29 December 2014 Keywords: Red deer Gastrointestinal nematodes Sheep Establishment rate a b s t r a c t To investigate the establishment of sheep gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) in red deer, five red deer and five sheep aged 5–6 months were challenged with a mixed burden of sheep GIN at a rate of 327L3/kg bodyweight. The LSmean (SE) establishment rates (%) for Haemonchus contortus, Teladorsagia circumcincta, Cooperia curticei, Trichostrongylus spp. and Oesophagostomum + Chabertia spp. were 18.6 (0.03), 35.5 (0.04), 30.7 (0.04), 74.9 (0.05), 19.9 (0.06), respectively in sheep and 10.5 (0.03), 1.0 (0.04), 0.1 (0.04), 1.0 (0.05), 4.8 (0.06) respectively, in deer. Establishment rates were significantly different (p < 0.05) between hosts for all genera. No Trichostrongylus colubriformis or Trichostrongylus vitrinus were seen in any deer but were present in all sheep. Trichostrongylus axei were seen in both hosts but there were relatively more which established in sheep than in deer (p < 0.01). No Chabertia ovina were seen in any deer but were present in four of five sheep in low numbers. The only species of Oesophagostomum seen in either host was Oesophagostomum venulosum. These results suggest that the sheep GIN most likely to infect red deer grazing the same pastures are H. contortus, T. axei and O. venulosum. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction As in other livestock production systems, parasites are an important clinical and economic problem in farmed deer (Audigé et al., 1998; Wilson, 2002). Whilst most focus has historically been on clinical disease caused by Dictyocaulus spp., gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) may also be an issue for red deer (Audigé et al., 1998; Mason, 1977; Watson and Charleston, 1985). To help limit parasitism in deer there has been a move by deer farmers to use integrated man- agement systems, particularly cross-grazing with other ruminants to restrict the number of deer-specific parasite ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +64 6 3569099x86161; fax: +64 6 3505636. E-mail addresses: DanielaTapiaEscarate@gmail.com (D. Tapia-Escárate), w.pomroy@massey.ac.nz (W.E. Pomroy), I.Scott@massey.ac.nz (I. Scott), P.R.Wilson@massey.ac.nz (P.R. Wilson), N.Lopez-Villalobos@massey.ac.nz (N. Lopez-Villalobos). larvae on pasture. However, very few studies have inves- tigated the potential for cross-infection of GIN between deer and other ruminants. It is known that deer can be infected with some GIN of sheep including Trichostrongylus axei, Haemonchus contortus, Oesophagostomum venulosum, Teladorsagia circumcincta, Trichostrongylus vitrinus, Nema- todirus and Chabertia ovina (McKenna, 2009). However, it is not clear how readily deer are infected with sheep nema- todes. The aim of the present study was to determine the establishment rate of sheep GIN in young deer compared with sheep of the same age to help understand the poten- tial risks associated with cross-grazing and susceptibility of deer to sheep GIN. 2. Materials and methods Five male red deer calves (Cervus elaphus) and five Romney-cross ewe lambs (Ovis aries) raised on pasture which were born mid-November to early December 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2014.12.035 0304-4017/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.