There are 2 key aspects to long term sustainable and effective worm control in sheep:

Using effective combination drench.
Refugia (proportion left undrenched) and stock movements either side of drenching. Key questions every sheep farmer needs to answer if serious about parasite control:
What drenches are effective on MY property?
How do I maintain drench effectiveness into the future? December to January is the best opportunity to answer these main questions by doing a reduction test and/or doing an animal health plan for the year.

Australia leads us in many things but their drench resistance is something we do not want to emulate. There are a number of reasons why this is the case, but one of the main factors in Australia is the prolonged dry periods, which means a much higher proportion of the worm population is in the gut of sheep, not on the ground (as in wet, green grass situations). So when a worm population is exposed to a drench, resistant worms can rapidly become the more dominant gene pool. With a drier east coast predicted this summer, it is an opportunity to really think about work biology and some of the sustainable parasite management practices that the industry are advocating.

WE will be contacting farmers who have shown interest in completing a FECRT or making time to map out animal health events for the year.