Women 'dominate vet profession'
Females are dominating the veterinary profession worldwide and many farmers are welcoming this change in the composition of the profession, says Britain's Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) Professor Christine Middlemiss.
At The Veterinary Centre, Oamaru, we have just finished a series of sheep and beef winter roadshows, featuring several expert speakers, notably in the area of parasite management.
Interestingly, they didn’t always agree, particularly at the first couple of “rounds”. It wasn’t SBW and the Mountain Man Cameron but the debate certainly re-invigorated the need for farmers to actively engage with stock production and sustainable parasite management issues each year.
The underlying message is there is no one right or wrong recipe to achieve balance between production objectives and sustainable practice, and many of the attendees confessed afterwards to enjoying the veterinary heavyweights sparing for technical points on certain issues.
The roadshow had six “rounds”: Hyde, Palmerston, Five Forks, Omarama, Kurow and Waihoa Forks (Waimate).
Putting the programme together I was aware it was fairly traditional: lamb survival, sustainable parasite management, revisiting sheep lameness, sudden death syndromes and beef cow reproduction; so I was pleasantly surprised by record crowds. The topics have generated more post roadshow discussion and action than ever before.
Hyde hall meetings have become somewhat legendary in our practice. There was snow on the ground and a bone chilling southerly rattling the tin roof: an unlikely setting for a full house, but they crammed in from far and wide to hear and contribute to the discussion. Apparently the debate on the “issues” went on long after we’d left!
Trevor Cook, national wormwise spokesman and respected sheep and beef vet consultant from Feilding, showed sobering evidence of triple drench failure in many properties throughout New Zealand. The challenge is to drench test and make the results the starting point for sound, sustainable worm control strategy.
Simon Laming, senior veterinarian with The Veterinary Centre, Oamaru, gave a punchy summary of New Zealand trial work demonstrating production costs of internal parasitism in sheep and cattle.
“Sure, if you remove all of the worms for the longest time you’ll get production gains…but it’s not that simple anymore,” he told audiences. “We have to get a bit smarter about how we apply drenches so that they continue to deliver the production benefits for many years to come.”
Trevor worked through a scenario showing a drench that was 92% effective would lead to an annual loss of $20,000 in a 2000 ewe flock compared with more effective controls. The alarming thing about drench resistance is that you cannot easily
see such effects. By the time you notice it, it has probably been affecting production for years.
Both speakers exchanged good practical ways in which existing drench families can be protected and supported, such as exit drenching lambs or hoggets with a novel active in mid to late autumn. If we keep hammering triple drenches without heed to principles of refugia, exit drenching, stock rotation, quarantine practices, minimal or selective use of long acting products, clean pasture and cropping to lengthen drench interval, for some it could be less than five years.
To summarise, the take home messages were:
Know what drenches work on the farm in order to a) assess if existing practice is sustainable and b) what are the best drenches for the future. We are already booking reduction tests for next season.
Use novel actives in Zolvix or Startect to quarantine or exit drench to avoid importing or carrying over resistant worm populations.
Having a seasonal parasite management plan will pay: worm control is not all about drench. Create low parasite challenge feeds and leave some susceptible worms on farm.
By the end of the roadshows Simon and Trevor were agreeing with each other. It made the 6th round at Waihoa Forks, our biggest crowd, a tamer affair, but it makes me think production objectives and sustainable farm practices are not to be viewed as antagonistic but equally attainable with good data, sound decisions and flexible planning.
• Dave Robertson is a partner at the Oamaru Clinic of The Veterinary Centre. See www.vet111.co.nz
