Drench resistance costs sheep industry about $100 million annually. How much is it costing your farm?
The days of assuming triple drenches work effectively on your property are gone.
Analysis by Invermay-based Techion, developer of faecal egg counting platform FECPAKG2, shows undetected drench resistance is costing the New Zealand farming industry $98m per annum.
This number comes from 18 years of DrenchSmart, the company’s faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) which reports what drench actives work effectively on farms.
Commonly used triple drenches are not effective on 27% of New Zealand sheep farms.
Other drench options fared no better, with BZ/Lev combinations failing on 50% of properties, while Lev/Aba combinations failed on 32% of properties, according to a detailed anaylsis of more than 30,000 FEC samples through its lab in year to 30 June 2023.
Techion Founder and Managing Director, Greg Mirams says the days of farmers simply assuming a triple drench will work are gone.
A property producing 4000 lambs a year will lose up to $81,200 income annually if it has undetected resistance.
“Triple drenches are not effective on 27% of New Zealand sheep farms.”
“Farmers generally only become aware there is a problem when they see poor lamb performance in late autumn, or in hoggets or ewes through the winter.
Unfortunately, by the time farmers observe production losses drench has been failing for years,” he says.
Fortunately for the industry, there are sustainable, cost-effective options for farmers to manage parasite resistance and improve productivity and reduce costs.
Come and talk to the FECPAKG2 team on stand A194 to understand your options for managing drench resistance.