Southern Highlands Farm Life

I was offered the opportunity to test the effectiveness of my cattle worm drench for free. I thought, why not?!

I recently attended a local cattle health information event at Bowral Co Op, Bowral NSW. I try to attend as many events like this as possible, as you never know who you will meet. If you learn one new fact at these events, then it is worth giving up your time.

Virbac animal health presented on the effectiveness of current worm drenches, particularly in the Southern Highlands area. Different drenches work better on different types of worms and parasites. It is worth knowing which ones you need to target. You may be using the wrong drench. Since they are not cheap, it is worth using the correct one.

I knew I had been a bit lazy with my worm drenches, and faecal egg testing over the last couple of years. I was rotating drenches and drenching on time, but was it working? Who knows, unless you egg test regularly, which I had not done for a year or two.

Virbac have brought out Drench Trax. This is an online portal. Anyone can use it to determine which drenches are working in certain areas. It also helps find out which drenches have become useless due to worms building up a tolerance. Virbac gather this data by providing free egg testing, and they need as much data as possible. ‘Great,’ I thought. It’s a win for them, and I get a free egg test. Additionally, I find out if my drench was working. I am guilty of walking into the shop and looking at the drenches, and trying to go with the most cost-effective choice. If the product is not doing anything, however, I may as well throw that money down the drain!

So I took Virbac up on the offer to see how my drench was going. An extra bonus of the offer is that Virbac can also test for liver fluke at the same time. I assumed I had some fluke. However, I had never had a health problem due to it. Production loss was probably a factor I had not measured. Liver fluke are awful little things. Cattle pick them up from eating a snail that lives on grass. This occurs in wet paddock areas. They then hatch inside the cow, and look like little stingrays. They then proceed to eat their way through the liver of the animal. Horrible!

We tested my young cattle and sent the samples away. I drenched them and we sampled again.

The news came back not good! However, it was great information to have. Liver fluke was present in my cattle. Guess what percentage of the worms dropped after drenching?

0% The drench killed NO WORMS AT ALL! The worm count actually went up! I think the worms liked the treatment if anything.

What does this tell us? If you or the person looking after your cattle is not checking egg counts or testing for fluke-do it! Who does this? Call Virbac – they are craving data to see which drenches are effective, and which ones are no longer working. Your vet can also perform these tests for you, but the cost will be higher.

Why should I do this? Liver fluke and parasitic worms are a major production limiter. What does this mean? When you go to sell your product, you have less kilograms to sell-simple. All that grass and feed you have provided the cattle with, has been partly gobbled up by the parasites! At the end of the day, kilos of beef is what we are after.

As an older farm manager I worked with used to say, “You are just feeding the worms!”

I now have a tailored treatment plan from Virbac to limit worms and liver fluke. You cannot eradicate these parasites from your property, but you can limit their impact by proper treatment, and grazing management.

It is worth testing to see if your treatments are working. If not, go to the fridge and grab a cold drink of your choice. Pour it into your cattle’s mouth or down their back. That is as good as what I was doing!