MAY BIONIC: 2021 what’s new

2021 sees the launch of some new products to the Bionic® range.

Bionic Plus Hogget® is an combination capsule, just EDITORIAL like Bionic. However, it is specifically designed for 20-40kg sheep with the aim of giving hoggets approaching tupping a bit light a helping hand to reach 40kg tar- get weights. As hogget mating in Northland isn’t very common, we will probably This month …..we have a range of not keep Bionic Plus Hogget in stock and instead order it in specifically. Give us parasitology topics – relevant to a call to discuss. dogs, sheep, cattle (and humans!).

Bionic Plus® is replacing Bionic for ewes at lambing. There is a slight increase There are upcoming changes re- in the concentration of active due to changes in manufacturing but garding docking in lambs so make you can expect the same response to treatment. As always, we recommend that you target twin and triplet ewes in lower body condition score for treatment. sure you review this before docking Make sure you mix treated and untreated ewes together to reduce the selection starts in spring. for anthelmintic resistance. There are a few new products being launched at the moment so if you When using any long-acting product such as a capsule, you need to consider have questions about anything you using an Exit drench - we recommend using either Zolvix Plus® or Startect®. see advertised, please get in touch. Unfortunately, we can’t stock every- thing but we want to make sure that there is good science behind the products we do stock. If you have a topic you wish we would write about in our newsletter let us know.

continues on page 2 TAPEWORM TABLETS a question on dosing EXIT DRENCHING and KNOCKOUT DRENCHING An Exit drench is a drench given following the use of a long-acting anthelmin- tic such as a capsule or a containing product (think Exodus® or Cydectin®). The aim is to kill parasites that have survived the long-acting product and so must be fully effective on your farm – practically this means using an anthelmintic active that you don’t usually use. As the use of triple combination products is widespread, a triple combination is not generally con- sidered an effective Exit drench. Instead we recommend either Zolvix Plus® or Startect®. If you have sheep, many of you are get- ting Droncit® tablets in the mail. These A Knockout drench is the substitution of a routine lamb drench with a novel are given in the months in between active anthelmintic product. The aim is to kill any resistant worms that have Drontal to kill sheep measles tapeworm survived and accumulated from preceding drenches. This means that even if in dogs and are required because the you have been using triple combination products in your lambs all summer you lifecycle of sheep measles tapeworm is should consider the use of either Zolvix Plus or Startect – consider it a good shorter than other worms. Some of you insurance policy for your triple combination drenches. have noticed that your Droncit tablets are dosed at one tablet per 20kg but the tablet packaging dose is one tablet per 10kg.

The good news is that this is not a mis- take. Continue to dose at one tablet per 20kg. In countries where Hydatid tape- worm is present, we need to dose at one tablet per 10kg, as a much higher dose of praziquantel is required to kill this tapeworm. In New Zealand, thanks to the ole dog dosing days Hydatid tape- worm has been eradicated. This means we need a lower dose of praziquantel to kill the tapeworms we are concerned about so dose at one tablet per 20kg.

If you have any questions, please give us a call. If you need your dogs adding to the worm programme mailout please also let us know.

Targeted Selective Treatments in Cattle Drenching

Targeted selective treatment programmes aim to treat the animals in a mob which most likely need an anthelmintic whilst leaving the others untreated.

This reduces the number of animals requiring and as a result should lessen the selection of anthelmintic resistance. In a New Zealand study of dairy heifers, only those animals failing to meet a precalculated average daily gain were treated. On one farm, this resulted in an 84% re- duction in anthelmintic usage and on the other farm in the study a 65% reduction, with very little change in liveweight gains of the animals. However, it is vital for animals to be weighed and their average daily gain calculated at least monthly.

If you have questions about implementing a targeted selective treatment programme on your farm please give us a call to discuss.

97 Normanby Street, Dargaville clinic 09 439 7117 after hours 021 403 301 www.dargavillevets.co.nz Why you should SCAN YOUR EWES Scanning your ewes gives you a whole lot more options for managing them over the winter. Once you know what’s pregnant and what’s not you can cull those empty ewes. Don’t feed a ewe for months that isn’t going to make you any more money. Instead, you can use that feed to preferentially feed multiple bearing ewes to help improve lamb survival. Scanning to identify singles, twins and triples will also help you target ewes that are likely to benefit from a prelamb capsule or Nilvax vaccination. Scanning your ewes to identify those that are late lambing will help you mange feed resources most efficiently.

5 Key points on TRACE ELEMENTS

Copper levels are traditionally low The Northern Wairoa typically has low copper levels which has effects on reproduction, immunity and animal health and production. Interactions with other elements mean that testing copper levels in animals not just soils1 or feed is important. LIVER FLUKE

could be costing you Selenium is important Selenium deficiencies can cause ill thrift and There are lots of parasites that love our warm climate – liver scouring in calves and can cause an increased fluke is one of them. The immature stages of liver fluke migrate incidence of retained fetal membranes in calving across the liver surface to the bile ducts where they live as adults. cows. While most animals with liver fluke show no obvious signs of disease, 2 liver fluke could well be causing reduced growth rates. Copper is toxic in overdose Fortunately, there are a range of products to treat liver fluke; please Too much copper is dangerous – animals can talk to us about the best option for your stock. and do die from excess copper levels so testing to know where you are at is important. Genesis Ultra Pour On is a pour on product that will kill all stages of We recommend liver biopsies to check the level liver fluke. Unfortunately there is a very long withholding period, so do of stored copper although blood samples are not use to treat cattle headed for the works in the next few months. also a good option. 3

FlukeCare is an oral drench that will kill all stages of liver fluke B12 makes you eat and has a relatively short with- B12 keeps our biology working fast due to its holding period. role in enzyme pathways. It also acts as an

If you are treating young cattle appetite stimulant to make animals eat more, for liver fluke we recommend so consider giving when feed is available. using Switch Fluke 10. 4

Ivomec Plus is an injectable Testing is easy product but does not kill all the Liver biopsies are a great way of testing trace immature stages of liver fluke - element status. They are easy to organise for we recommend reserving Ivomec animals going to the works; we just need to Plus for cases where it is not complete the paperwork a few days in advance. possible to use an alternative Blood samples are an alternative especially if product. you don’t have5 animals finishing soon.

97 Normanby Street, Dar- gaville clinic 09 439 7117 after hours 021 403 301 Why Dog Worms are Important to Humans Recent studies have looked at human exposure to dog worms with some interesting results. Worldwide a large number of adults have had exposure to Toxocara (roundworms) from dogs and cats, but there is a huge variation with higher numbers of rural people exposed. These people have dormant larvae in their system, not actual dog worms in their own gut. However, these larvae have the potential to cause adverse health effects in humans.

Regular worming of dogs is important to minimise human exposure – studies have shown that about 30% of adult dogs will shed Toxocara eggs over a year. We recommend worming your dogs at least every three months. If you have a dog that is immunocompromised or a young pup you should be worming more often.

Docking lambs HOW MUCH TAIL ! New animal welfare regulations are coming into effect in May 2021 (that’s now). The new regulations have been introduced due to new information regarding the affect of tail length on flystrike, skin cancers and rectal prolapse in sheep.

Rubber rings and searing irons will be the only permissible methods for docking lambs. The tail must be no shorter than the distal end of the caudal fold. Most sheep we see meet this requirement, however, we do still see some very short tails on occasion. From the photos below, the absolute minimum tail length is shown on the right, all others are too short.

Remember that this is something that meat processors will likely be monitoring; and will probably be following up on cases of non-compliance.

97 Normanby Street, Dargaville clinic 09 439 7117 after hours 021 403 301 www.dargavillevets.co.nz