Skip to Volume 59:
Cattle News
Sheep News
The Back Page
Dear Clients,
In the autumn, the weather reports have varied dramatically. With the drier areas of South Australia and Victoria and the flooded areas of Queensland, it’s pretty hard to give a blanket weather statement to our readership! So, we’ll work on the law of averages. As in, let’s hope the drier spots get rain and the wettest spots can dry out a little.
Indian Ocean Dipole phase is trending relatively neutral for the upcoming winter, which explains the average rainfall forecast we see in the figure on the right. For the wetter regions, this will mean developing strategic parasite management plans early and utilising regular worm testing (see Sheep News). For the drier regions of the country, parasite management focuses on ensuring the feed your stock gets is used for growth, lactation, etc., rather than trying to fight worms.
A few topics are making the news for rural Australia at the moment. Certain public revenue-raising tactics (new taxes), energy infrastructure projects, market drawbacks (live sheep), as well as major natural disasters are putting extra pressure on our rural communities. I just wanted to mention that while these issues are too easy to list, it’s important that we band together, look out for one another and seek additional support when required.
I feel the team has put together a rather informative Volume 59 newsletter this season. Covering topics such as managing first calving heifers, preventing Type 2 Ostertagia from causing serious harm to your cattle, our tag order process, the economics of pre-lambing drenches, reminder about some sheep eID rebates ending soon, and a back page full of places and faces.
Finally, for our sheep clients, we’ve included a little sneak peak of a new product we’re launching in the spring – Strikemaster Extra! If you’d like to know more or register your interest, read over the page and give us a call!
Kind regards,
Murray
Cattle News – Volume 59
Type 2 Ostertagia
If you’re from the southern end of Australia chances are that things are dry for you at the moment. Unfortunately, the dry makes an ideal climate for Type II Ostertagiosis. Small Brown Stomach Worm (Ostertagia ostertagi) can bury themselves into the stomach wall and lie dormant until conditions are ideal. When it rains, these inhibited Ostertagia are likely to emerge all at once and destroy the stomach lining, we call this Type II Ostertagiosis. Cattle undergoing nutritional stress in tough conditions like these, are facing cold weather, or amidst calving/weaning tend to be hit the hardest by the effects of the disease, often resulting in significant production and weight loss, or even death. Type II Ostertagiosis can be silent and unexpected, as it’s often unexpected for worms to be the cause of disease as pastures are often dry when it occurs.
Any of our “mectin” based drenches will work well for all stages of Ostertagia, whether you want to pour-on or inject is for you to decide!
First Calving Heifers
In challenging years (wet or dry), your first calving heifers are a particular class of stock that needs a bit of extra care. Unlike older cows who can tolerate a worm burden without it affecting their production capability, the stress of having their first calf can affect heifers significantly. Especially where inhibited ostertagia are present, as mentioned above.
To give first calving heifers a leg up against gastrointestinal worms around calving, we recommend giving a pre-calving drench about 4 weeks before they’re due. We recommend using your normal Vetmec Injection or Pour-On PLUS Vetmec LEV Pour-On to pick off any ‘mectin resistant worms.
Trust Chemvet with your Tag Orders
Ever wondered what it’s like to order tags through Chemvet?
- Get in touch either online or over the phone
- Give our team the information required. Including: Your PIC number, Management tag type (1 piece or 2 piece), Tag size and colour, and any printing for your tags.
- For orders with printed tags, approve or amend the order summary we send you.
At the moment, the turnaround time from when we submit the order to dispatch is about 4 weeks for printed tags and 1-2 weeks for NLIS tags, plus about a week for postage (less or more depending on where you live). We also do quotes for large orders of feedlot tags to keep costs down!
Order your NLIS and management tags through us this calving season and we promise to make the process as easy as possible.
Sheep News – Volume 59
Spring Pre-Lambing
As Murray mentioned on the first page, weather conditions across the country vary dramatically. One thing that doesn’t change much is the need for a good pre-lamb drench for the ewes to offset their drop in immunity just before they lamb and stop the post partum rise in worm egg output. For late winter and spring lambing ewes, the main worms we’re targeting are scour worms. When mixed together, Vetmec LV + Selenium and Vetmec Dual provides a very effective and cost-efficient oral drench to use as a primer or by itself.
We can add a Vetmec Mineral Mix of copper, cobalt, iodine and zinc to your drench for added trace element top ups!
For a long acting pre-lamb drench, use Vetmec Moxiguard Injection as well as the oral drench above. This cleans out all the worms from the ewes on the day of drenching, then Moxiguard kills off any larvae picked up off the pasture for up to 50 days.
Gold Standard Pre-Lambing Drench (70kg ewe)
Vetmec LV + Selenium = $0.14/head
Vetmec Dual = $0.18/head
Mineral Mix = $0.04/head
Moxiguard LA = $1.27/head
TOTAL = $1.63/head
-
Vetmec MOXIGUARD Long Acting Sheep Injection$200.00 + GST -
Vetmec LV Plus Selenium 10LPrice range: $200.00 through $220.00 + GST -
Vetmec Dual Sheep Drench 10LPrice range: $250.00 through $270.00 + GST -
Vetmec Mineral Mix$50.00 + GST
Worm Testing Volume 59
The best way to know for sure if your sheep are ‘wormy’ (before they show serious signs) is to conduct a worm test. This involves collecting fresh dung samples into a ziplock bag, filling out the form and express posting the sample and form to our chosen lab – Parasite Diagnostics in Hastings VIC.
Once the results arrive, you’ll receive free interpretation of results and recommendations from our qualified team. If you’d like to organise some worm tests, give us a call and we’ll send you a kit.
Chemvet Subsidised Worm Testing Prices:
1st Bulk Sample: $35 + GST
2nd + Sample (in the same post bag): $22.27 + GST
Reply paid post (optional): $16.50 + GST
STRIKEMASTER EXTRA SPRAY ON – COMING SOON
This fly season we’ll be launching the latest and greatest, Strikemaster Extra Spray On for Sheep (dicyclanil 65g/L), which provides up to 29 weeks of protection against susceptible strains of sheep blowfly. Pricing and launch date to come. If you would like to be put on the EOI list, contact us through the website, send an email to admin@chemvet.com.au or give us a call on 1800 243 683.
eID Rebate Deadlines Approaching
For the states transitioning to electronic sheep tags, there are numerous government rebates supporting the cost of your tags.
Some of these rebates are ending soon:
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: All SA $0.95 eID rebates end on 30th June 2025.
Actions required so you don’t miss out:
- Order your electronic sheep tags by Monday 23rd June so that there is time for the tags to be processed, call us 1800 243 683 to order.
- Or submit your eID rebate applications to PIRSA before 30th June.
From 1 July 2025, sheep and goat producers will be able to purchase National Livestock Identification System-approved EID tags receiving a 47.5 cents discount at the point of sale for the respective year of birth colour – white (2025), orange (2026) or light green (2027).
In addition to the point-of-sale tag discount, eligible SA producers will be able to apply for EID device rebates for NLIS-accredited tags that fall outside of the year of birth colour scheme.
TASMANIA: $1 rebate on black (2024) eID sheep tags ends on 30th June 2025.
White (2025), yellow and pink (post breeder) tags will still be discounted.
Places & Faces – Volume 59
Upcoming Events:
July 18-20: Aus. Sheep & Wool Show, Bendigo, VIC
August 3-4: Sheepvention, Hamilton, VIC September
23-25: Henty Machinery Field Days, NSW
Staff Accomplishments
Since our last newsletter, Tash graduated from her Master of Business Administration studies and Jess attained her Paraboss Certificate in Sheep Parasite Management. We’re very proud of our team for continually growing their knowledge, making great assets to our industry.
