Effect of wine lees on faecal egg count and lamb performance

The potential anti-parasitic of lees from several wine varieties was investigated using an in vitro anthelmintic assay using Haemonchus contortus eggs. The most effective lees variety was further investigated in lambs in two trials. In Trial 1, 60 sheep was pasture grazed as one mob and allocated to one of three groups (n = 20): water drenched; drenched with the anthelmintic Matrix, and daily drenched with 100 mL/animal Pinot noir (PN) lees. In Trial 2, 80 lambs were grazed as one mob and assigned to four treatments (n = 20): Pasture only (Control); Pasture plus lucerne pellets; Pasture, lucerne pellets and drenched with Matrix; Pasture, lucerne pellets and wine lees. In both trials, fecal egg count (FEC) and live weight were measured weekly. PN lees displayed positive in-vitro anthelmintic activity. In Trial 1, lees provided insignificant (7%) increase in cumulative liveweight gain relative to Control (P >0.05). In Trial 2, the overall mean daily gain (g/day) was not different with lees feeding but slight increased (26.6%) following drenching with Matrix (P >0.05). Lees, at the concentration used in this trial of 460 mg tannin/day/animal, did not offer a reliable stand-alone anthelmintic control.