This post is an extract from CEO and Co-Founder, Bill Mitchell’s fortnightly Optiweigh Insights email newsletter. To get a copy in your inbox, SUBSCRIBE HERE.
When I grew up on our sheep farm in the 1970s, worm resistance to drenches was just starting to become an issue. Fast forward to the 1990s when Jacqui and I returned to the farm, we were rotating drenches, counting eggs in sheep poo under a microscope, and still dealing with sick and dying animals.
In my working life I’ve seen two new drench actives come onto the market, and as we stand now, there is resistance to both with no prospect of any new solutions.
In many areas, across both sheep and cattle, the situation is not improving. It’s more rotating, more egg counting, and more drenching. And as we all add more animals to try to become more efficient and profitable, there is no end in sight.
So in this environment, any extra tools that go some little way to circumventing this cycle are well worth embracing.Â
As it happens, one tool that has popped up recently is data, or more specifically, animal weight data. The chart below is typical of what we are increasingly seeing from our clients in both sheep and cattle.
These animals were gaining weight nicely, and a routine worm egg count on 19 Oct showed no real issues at 210 EPG. But evidently they were full of immature worms, because soon after they started losing weight. A repeat egg count on 25 Oct had them at 805 EPG. After treatment they recovered and started to gain weight again.
We have seen lots of examples like this. Usually starting from the ‘what is wrong with my Optiweigh’ phone call. It is happening in both sheep and cattle, and in situations where internal parasites are not even high on the list of likely reasons (eg big cattle in Queensland).
Stopping weight loss from worms is one thing, but there is also a flip side, which is the potential to reduce the treatment of animals when it is not needed. If they are gaining weight nicely, think twice before shoving another drench down their throat and increasing the build-up of resistance.
One of the reasons we switched from sheep to cattle on our farm was worms. Where we are in the New England we grow sheep really well. But the cool moist summers mean the environment is ideal for worms. What makes it worse is that a grazing rotation that is good for the grass, and good for the animals, is even more suited to the worm cycle. When we planned our pastures and rotation system, Jacqui and I suspected we would have to move away from sheep for this very reason.
As it has turned out though, with our history in sheep, I’ve probably become a bit of an anti-wormer in cattle. We only drench cattle when they come onto our property, and then generally not again over the whole year or more that they are with us.
What I have learnt in the past year from our clients is that weight loss can often be attributed to internal parasites, even in larger animals that I had thought were able to handle a higher worm burden as long as they had plenty of feed. I know now that what I need to be doing next year is monitoring weight changes more closely, picking up early indications, testing and treating. That way I can increase the amount of weight I’m putting on from the same amount of grass.
These days all the ‘wise’ people seem to rabbit on about the power of data. But here it is. Do your sums on the power of investing in data if it means you can run x% more animals on the same amount of grass because you’re not losing productivity to internal parasites.Â