March 3, 2025 • 10 mins
Internal parasites and drench resistance are serious threats to livestock production. In the final episode of our special four-part series, The Country’s Rowena Duncum is once again joined by B+LNZ Principal Scientist (Animal Health Research) Dr Cara Brosnahan to look at targeted selective treatment in the fight against drench resistance.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The insights are Parasites with Beef and Lamb New Zealand
powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, hello and welcome into the final episode in our
special series looking at parasites in the New Zealand agricultural system.
My name is Rowena Duncan from the Country. It is
my pleasure to once again host this episode. Look if
you've missed. The first three were kicked off with doctor
Susy Keeling talking about all about the livestock internal parasite
(00:27):
program at Beef and Land, New Zealand. I was then
joined by Jenny Dedanski, program manager for Wormwise, and then
last week doctor Kara Brosnan joined me to look at
livestock parasite management groups, why they exist, what they're hoping
to achieve, and today she is back.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hello Kara, welcome, Hello, thanks for having me back.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
My absolute pleasure. Now we're going to look at targeted
selective treatment today. So let's kind of start at the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, so targeted selective treatment is in relation to parasites.
There's only treating animals that need it, So treating animals
worth drench or anthomitic something that kills the parasites. So
rather than just treating every single animal in the mob.
It is just targeting those ones that actually only need it,
and maybe that's through things like weight gain or other
(01:22):
measures that you see that actually that animal does need it.
This animal doesn't need it, so we'll leave it. And
the reason we do that is to a couple a
few reasons, to increase refugia, which is another word that
probably explanation. So refugia is about leaving parasites free of drench.
(01:44):
So this is how so in terms of drench resistance,
if you just keep drenching and drenching and drenching, then
you'll eventually get parasites that are resistant to drench. But
when we leave them without a drench, then you keep
parasites that are we call so receptible to the drench,
so that when you actually need to drench, if the
animal actually needs to be drenched, we can actually kill
(02:06):
those worms to help the animal prove its health. So
that's one thing is to increase that refugea on farm,
and the other is to preserve the life of the
drenches that are still working on your file. So even
if you've got drench resistance, it's likely that you'll still
have drenches, some drenches that do work, and we want
(02:27):
to make sure that those work for as long as possible.
And aside from that, if you're using these drench then
you're also saving the cost of that drench as well.
So there are a few benefits to using targeted selective treatments.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, and also the cost saving. You know, that's no
small benefit when we look back over the last couple
of years and every single thing in a farm budget
has been put under the microscope and potentially drop down
if it's not absolutely essential.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, definitely, And even and you know, even if you're
not targeted selective treatment, if you're treating a whole mob
but your drench isn't working, then effectively you are wasting
that money on the drench when you could have saved
that and put it into other parasite management aspects of
the farm system.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, you're literally pouring money away, pouring it on the
animals back or tipping it down their throats. Look, there's
a study into this. What's the reasoning behind that?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yes, So again this is just part of the parasite
management program that's based in land trying to find tools
for farmers to help manage parasites and especially in the
face of drench resistance. So we're looked into a tool
called smartworm, which is an app on your phone and
it's an option to automate the targeted selective treatment process.
(03:52):
So you know, we've developed in Ireland and it has
a fancy algorithm in the background which you put in
all your day and as your sheep come in, you
are reading their EID tag so you can assess their
live weight and then the app will make a decision
on whether to treat that animal or not. So Dave Warburton,
(04:15):
who is a vet from Vet Services in the Hawk's Bay,
came to us with a proposal to say, you know,
we should try this technology and see if it works
in New Zealand. So he led the study for us,
and yeah, we just wanted to it's also yeah, assessing
it in New Zealand, but also taking that risk out
of these potential tools for farmers so that we can say,
you know, this is how it worked on these farms
(04:36):
and then farmers can decide if they want to invest
in it or not.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Ca can we use existing technology to target our treatment
of lambs for parasites.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, So this is what was really cool about this
study is, as I say, we were just seeing if
it would work in the New Zealand context because Ireland,
although it is pasture base, there are differences there. So
gratefully we had farmers put up their hands to trials
technology on their farms. And we've done two studies so
(05:07):
far and one of them was a smaller study where
we had three farms in the North Island and the
trial was run on animals that were nine or ten
months old for a three month period. And then we
had a further study after that of six farms, so
three in the North Island and three in the South
(05:29):
Island of younger animals so they were six to seven
months old when the trial started a game for that
three month period, so all of the animals in the trial.
You know, if you're using this smart wom cap, you
do need an EID TAD and not everyone does that
for their animals, especially for lands, it's not that common.
(05:52):
So in the pilot study we used the EIDs and
then in the follow up study we also trialed some
cam is to see if facial recognition could be used
just to offset that cost of the EID and see
if that would be a more palatable option. So it's
a few things we were trialing, and yeah, it was
a really really interesting study. And again just you know,
(06:14):
having those farmers wanting to you know, put up their
hand to trial this is so important and we're really
grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, absolutely, and I want to ask what you found, Cara.
But first of all, just we side note here facial recognition.
I hate to say it, but every sheep looks the
same to me.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Oh come on, They're all very different. So this is
what we're trying to see, and particularly as the sheep grow.
So we were only looking at the sheep faces every
twenty eight days, so you know, what changes are those
in a lamb? How different are those every month? And
can can an aisystem makes you recognize that and also
(06:57):
animals that are wooly and then the next time they're
sure what can be do? So I am going to
disappoint you and say that the facial recognition aspect is
still being worked up and we should have some answers
the end of this month. But it's a really interesting
aspect and there are companies overseas that are saying they
have pretty good accuracy, but again, it is worth different breeds,
(07:21):
So we need to see what that means in New
Zealand and if it's even a possibility.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Cool. I look forward to following that as well, because
as a former dairy farmer, you know, cows look very different,
but the shape I'm still yet to be convinced.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
But hopefully we can convince you.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, sorry, I've digressed anyway, What did you find with
the study, Kara?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah? So when So for both the smaller study and
the larger one, for the three farms and then the
six farms, both times, on average there was up to
fifty percent less drench used over that three month period,
which is obviously a huge saving in kind of the
(08:05):
drench but also labor. And in the first study, which
were those older group of animals, there was no impact
on the live weight on the larger group of farms.
With the younger animals, there was a slight impact on
the live weight. That's, you know, over above the benefits
(08:27):
that you're getting. Again, that is up to the farmers
to decide if they are okay with that slight decrease
in the live weight.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And also I imagine you know, some of these farms
were bigger than others, but if you look at it
on mass scale, you know, to actually bring animals in
for drenching on some of the bigger high country high
country stations, you know, that's a massive undertaking in itself.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah. Absolutely, And I guess that's one thing with the
targeted selective treatment and general because you do have to
have a setup where you've got a drafter and you're
able to read the tags in you know, in some
situations it might not work, But I guess that's the
whole point of the parasite management options is that you
(09:18):
do the option that suits best. So you know, you
won't necessarily use target of selective treatment the whole year round.
You might just use it at certain events. And even
if you're saving for ste percent there on your drench
then that's huge. So you're right, looking at it in
the bigger picture is really important.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
And obviously this study is going to actually help with
management around different scenarios as well. It might be a
slight tweak to your setup, It might be taking AID
readers with you, and yeah, there's definitely going to be
workarounds with this CA Where can people go to find
more information about this?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, so if you go to the Beef and Lamb
website and go to the knowledge hub. You can search
parasite management or a smart one and you'll see the
reports from the later studies. Also, of course, follow Beef
and Them on the social media channels for any updates
on the research.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah fantastic. I found this entire series absolutely fascinating. Insights
on parasites and association with Beef and Lamb New Zealand.
Doctor carrab Rosnahan, Principal Scientist for Animal Health Research, thank
you so much for not only your time today but
also your time last week. Episodes three and four were
all on you. I've really appreciated it and really enjoyed
(10:36):
our chats.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Thanks a lot me too, It's been great to share
what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
The insights are on parasites with Beef and Lamb, New Zealand,
powered by the Country
The insights are Parasites with Beef and Lamb New Zealand
powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, hello and welcome into the final episode in our
special series looking at parasites in the New Zealand agricultural system.
My name is Rowena Duncan from the Country. It is
my pleasure to once again host this episode. Look if
you've missed. The first three were kicked off with doctor
Susy Keeling talking about all about the livestock internal parasite
(00:27):
program at Beef and Land, New Zealand. I was then
joined by Jenny Dedanski, program manager for Wormwise, and then
last week doctor Kara Brosnan joined me to look at
livestock parasite management groups, why they exist, what they're hoping
to achieve, and today she is back.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hello Kara, welcome, Hello, thanks for having me back.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
My absolute pleasure. Now we're going to look at targeted
selective treatment today. So let's kind of start at the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, so targeted selective treatment is in relation to parasites.
There's only treating animals that need it, So treating animals
worth drench or anthomitic something that kills the parasites. So
rather than just treating every single animal in the mob.
It is just targeting those ones that actually only need it,
and maybe that's through things like weight gain or other
(01:22):
measures that you see that actually that animal does need it.
This animal doesn't need it, so we'll leave it. And
the reason we do that is to a couple a
few reasons, to increase refugia, which is another word that
probably explanation. So refugia is about leaving parasites free of drench.
(01:44):
So this is how so in terms of drench resistance,
if you just keep drenching and drenching and drenching, then
you'll eventually get parasites that are resistant to drench. But
when we leave them without a drench, then you keep
parasites that are we call so receptible to the drench,
so that when you actually need to drench, if the
animal actually needs to be drenched, we can actually kill
(02:06):
those worms to help the animal prove its health. So
that's one thing is to increase that refugea on farm,
and the other is to preserve the life of the
drenches that are still working on your file. So even
if you've got drench resistance, it's likely that you'll still
have drenches, some drenches that do work, and we want
(02:27):
to make sure that those work for as long as possible.
And aside from that, if you're using these drench then
you're also saving the cost of that drench as well.
So there are a few benefits to using targeted selective treatments.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, and also the cost saving. You know, that's no
small benefit when we look back over the last couple
of years and every single thing in a farm budget
has been put under the microscope and potentially drop down
if it's not absolutely essential.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, definitely, And even and you know, even if you're
not targeted selective treatment, if you're treating a whole mob
but your drench isn't working, then effectively you are wasting
that money on the drench when you could have saved
that and put it into other parasite management aspects of
the farm system.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, you're literally pouring money away, pouring it on the
animals back or tipping it down their throats. Look, there's
a study into this. What's the reasoning behind that?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yes, So again this is just part of the parasite
management program that's based in land trying to find tools
for farmers to help manage parasites and especially in the
face of drench resistance. So we're looked into a tool
called smartworm, which is an app on your phone and
it's an option to automate the targeted selective treatment process.
(03:52):
So you know, we've developed in Ireland and it has
a fancy algorithm in the background which you put in
all your day and as your sheep come in, you
are reading their EID tag so you can assess their
live weight and then the app will make a decision
on whether to treat that animal or not. So Dave Warburton,
(04:15):
who is a vet from Vet Services in the Hawk's Bay,
came to us with a proposal to say, you know,
we should try this technology and see if it works
in New Zealand. So he led the study for us,
and yeah, we just wanted to it's also yeah, assessing
it in New Zealand, but also taking that risk out
of these potential tools for farmers so that we can say,
you know, this is how it worked on these farms
(04:36):
and then farmers can decide if they want to invest
in it or not.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Ca can we use existing technology to target our treatment
of lambs for parasites.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, So this is what was really cool about this
study is, as I say, we were just seeing if
it would work in the New Zealand context because Ireland,
although it is pasture base, there are differences there. So
gratefully we had farmers put up their hands to trials
technology on their farms. And we've done two studies so
(05:07):
far and one of them was a smaller study where
we had three farms in the North Island and the
trial was run on animals that were nine or ten
months old for a three month period. And then we
had a further study after that of six farms, so
three in the North Island and three in the South
(05:29):
Island of younger animals so they were six to seven
months old when the trial started a game for that
three month period, so all of the animals in the trial.
You know, if you're using this smart wom cap, you
do need an EID TAD and not everyone does that
for their animals, especially for lands, it's not that common.
(05:52):
So in the pilot study we used the EIDs and
then in the follow up study we also trialed some
cam is to see if facial recognition could be used
just to offset that cost of the EID and see
if that would be a more palatable option. So it's
a few things we were trialing, and yeah, it was
a really really interesting study. And again just you know,
(06:14):
having those farmers wanting to you know, put up their
hand to trial this is so important and we're really
grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, absolutely, and I want to ask what you found, Cara.
But first of all, just we side note here facial recognition.
I hate to say it, but every sheep looks the
same to me.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Oh come on, They're all very different. So this is
what we're trying to see, and particularly as the sheep grow.
So we were only looking at the sheep faces every
twenty eight days, so you know, what changes are those
in a lamb? How different are those every month? And
can can an aisystem makes you recognize that and also
(06:57):
animals that are wooly and then the next time they're
sure what can be do? So I am going to
disappoint you and say that the facial recognition aspect is
still being worked up and we should have some answers
the end of this month. But it's a really interesting
aspect and there are companies overseas that are saying they
have pretty good accuracy, but again, it is worth different breeds,
(07:21):
So we need to see what that means in New
Zealand and if it's even a possibility.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Cool. I look forward to following that as well, because
as a former dairy farmer, you know, cows look very different,
but the shape I'm still yet to be convinced.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
But hopefully we can convince you.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, sorry, I've digressed anyway, What did you find with
the study, Kara?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah? So when So for both the smaller study and
the larger one, for the three farms and then the
six farms, both times, on average there was up to
fifty percent less drench used over that three month period,
which is obviously a huge saving in kind of the
(08:05):
drench but also labor. And in the first study, which
were those older group of animals, there was no impact
on the live weight on the larger group of farms.
With the younger animals, there was a slight impact on
the live weight. That's, you know, over above the benefits
(08:27):
that you're getting. Again, that is up to the farmers
to decide if they are okay with that slight decrease
in the live weight.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And also I imagine you know, some of these farms
were bigger than others, but if you look at it
on mass scale, you know, to actually bring animals in
for drenching on some of the bigger high country high
country stations, you know, that's a massive undertaking in itself.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah. Absolutely, And I guess that's one thing with the
targeted selective treatment and general because you do have to
have a setup where you've got a drafter and you're
able to read the tags in you know, in some
situations it might not work, But I guess that's the
whole point of the parasite management options is that you
(09:18):
do the option that suits best. So you know, you
won't necessarily use target of selective treatment the whole year round.
You might just use it at certain events. And even
if you're saving for ste percent there on your drench
then that's huge. So you're right, looking at it in
the bigger picture is really important.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
And obviously this study is going to actually help with
management around different scenarios as well. It might be a
slight tweak to your setup, It might be taking AID
readers with you, and yeah, there's definitely going to be
workarounds with this CA Where can people go to find
more information about this?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, so if you go to the Beef and Lamb
website and go to the knowledge hub. You can search
parasite management or a smart one and you'll see the
reports from the later studies. Also, of course, follow Beef
and Them on the social media channels for any updates
on the research.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah fantastic. I found this entire series absolutely fascinating. Insights
on parasites and association with Beef and Lamb New Zealand.
Doctor carrab Rosnahan, Principal Scientist for Animal Health Research, thank
you so much for not only your time today but
also your time last week. Episodes three and four were
all on you. I've really appreciated it and really enjoyed
(10:36):
our chats.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Thanks a lot me too, It's been great to share
what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
The insights are on parasites with Beef and Lamb, New Zealand,
powered by the Country
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