Patrick has a good eye for cattle ring

Seventeen year-old Patrick Anderson from Athlone (pictured) has taken out this year’s Victorian Agricultural Shows’ dairy judging competition.

His keen eye for dairy cattle, developed by selecting his own herd, shone through at the judging held at Tatura earlier this month as part of International Dairy Week..

He’ll now represent Victoria in the national final to be staged at the Royal Adelaide Show in September.

Finalists at Tatura were judged on their written and verbal assessment of Jersey and Guernsey milking cows and Holstein heifers.

Increased movement of hay and grain feed onto properties and across paddocks in summer increases the potential of spreading pests and diseases.

Insects and their eggs, snails, fungal spores, bacteria, viruses, weed seeds and numerous other pathogens and vectors can arrive on, and in, fodder, grain, dirt and other plant and animal material found on clothing, footwear and tools.

Additionally, they can be introduced onto a property on the underside and inside the vehicles and machinery used to load, unload, transport and store hay and grain feed.

Agriculture Victoria grains biosecurity officer Jim Moran said

the introduction and spread of pests and diseases can be minimised by:

The majority of producers understand the value in having a strategic summer drenching program in place, but I want to reiterate to sheep producers - the possible need for a second summer drench.

Drenching is expensive and time consuming so pre drench faecal egg counts (FECs) should always be considered, and this will put some science and evidence into whether or not to drench.

Strategic summer drenching involves an effective drench at the beginning and end of the season.

This is to take advantage of the destruction of worm larvae on pasture by heat and lack of moisture.

The life cycle of the worm involves both your pasture and the animal, whereas the drench fixes the animal problem, the hot, dry conditions of summer helps to eliminate the pasture problem.

Some regions in Victoria early this season, experienced unseasonably wet conditions.

This may have led to conditions in which worm egg and larvae survival on pasture was greater than normal, therefore reducing the effectiveness of the first summer drench.

In addition, ineffective chemicals and/or an inadequate drench

procedure will reduce the effectiveness of summer drenching.

Worm resistance, particularly to the white and