Back in the days when we rotated between three (or earlier, two) drench families on an annual basis, the answer to this question didn't require a lot of thought.
Nowadays the game has completely changed! There is a myriad of combination drenches on the market, two completely new drugs which a year ago seemed unaffordable (but with a $4.00+ store price are probably now on the radar), PLUS we know so much more about sustainably managing the use of these products, that the approach is not so simple anymore!
However the one message we are still hammering is:
Know the efficacy of the main drench families on your own property
If you don't know - test
Let us help you interpret these to formulate a sensible and sustainable worm management plan
However given that the best time to run a faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) in our area is probably early February through to early April, you do need to make some decisions now as to what to use until you get your testing done. ‘Cause this is the year to do it!
So in simple terms, here is what you could do:
1. If you have drench-testing information from your farm that is less than say 5 years old, it is probably still valuable - make some time to come and have a chat to us about it (even if we didn't do the testing, we're not that precious about it!) and get some recommendations for drench use based on what you already know.
2. If you have no info on your farm at all - best practice is to use a triple-combination drench as the routine lamb drench.
3. Book in to do a FECRT later in the summer. We've been doing these for many years and have refined a procedure that is as simple as possible but still collects the maximum information. You can collect the samples or we can.
Once we have the information from this testing we can help you make better decisions around:
- What should your routine lamb drench be?
- What is the best option for Barber's Pole worm control in ewes, in lambs, when and if required - and how do you know when this is?
- Ewe drenching
- How proactive you need to be with solutions other than the drench gun
Trust us - we can help make this exercise as simple and painless as possible, and even when the results are not what you expect, we can set you up with a plan that will help you continue to get the most out of your sheep. And then it's one less thing to waste time wondering about!
