Effective pre-lamb purchasing
PRELAMB anthelmintic treatments are the next big animal health consideration for sheep farmers. The prelamb animal health market, including drench capsules and long acting injection, is always extremely competitive.
From the farmer’s viewpoint, this is a bonus! Keeping costs under control is important in every business market. But don’t be so distracted from the “wheeling and dealing” that your overall business suffers.
Long acting drench treatments can provide some of the best returns available to a farmer. But the difference between very good outcomes and average outcomes from your investment relies on the selection of the right product for the job and how it is used.
While a $10,000 deal may be won or lost over $50, the really important issue is for us to transfer informed advice on the most cost effective aspects. The big
issues that should be considered:
Are you using the right product for your farming situation this season? For drench decisions, are you thinking about the larval challenge on the ground?
Are ewes under more pressure than usual, and is adequate feed available?
Is the option you choose sustainable? Will it still perform in 10 years’ time? In the case of depot drench products, can some ewes be left untreated to foster refugia?
When should capsules or long acting injections be used? Would there be an economic gain giving capsules earlier this year, to improve lamb birthweight and survival?
Or are you going to have too many dags at weaning because the capsules went in too early?
What is your drench resistance status, and how well are products really working?
Have you booked in a full drench test so you have good information to work from?
These are very real questions and far more significant economically than a few dollars! The same principles and sentiment apply to dairy farmers. I can look at these issues from three different backgrounds.
1. As a vet: I want to be delivering the right product, with the best information, and see it used in the best way, for a sustainable productive advantage.
2. As a business leader: I know our business will not perform unless our farming clients succeed. I want our business to be one where our services and supplies contribute to successful farming.
3. As a farmer: I don’t want to know the least possible cost. I do want to know the investment which gives the maximum cost effective and sustainable return.