Q & A
Q: I just drenched my sheep. When should I do another WEC?
A: The lifecycle of a round worm is around 21 days. This means if you drench and kill the adults, there should be no adult egg excreting eggs for that period.
So, a WEC at 14 days post drenching tells you if the drench worked. These WECs are complimentary if you source your drench through AHN.
Beyond that, if we get summer temperatures and some rain, I’d test at 5-6 weeks post drenching, this is normally when the WEC levels start to rise again.
Q: I’m marking calves. Should I drench my cows?
A: Adult cattle have very good immune systems and are very good at keeping internal parasites under control. If they are fat and on a good plane of nutrition I wouldn’t drench - save yourself some money!
Q: What weight can I wean my lambs?
A: Weaning above 20kg is easiest, in my experience. This doesn’t mean an average of 20kg, it means they all need to be 20kg! We can wean lighter, but they need a high-quality diet and a bit of TLC.
Q: It’s dried off. Should I put out a lick for my cattle?
A: Yes. If you’ve got no green feed, the time for a lick that contains 8-12% urea is now. Bearing in mind, they will only stimulate dry feed consumption by a percentage, so they won’t be a silver bullet. Licks suit adult cattle. You also need consider the cost vs benefit. What is the best value for money supplement you can buy to suit the class of stock and the outcome you’re chasing? We can help you make this decision!
Q: I’m in a hurry - can I speed up my feedlot induction process?
You can, but you won’t like the outcome.
Stock fed things other than grain have a rumen microbiome dominated by fungi, for example. When we introduce grain, we want the fungi to slowly die out and the bacteria that love starch to multiply. This takes time. We also need the rumen wall to start to handle all the volatile fatty acids produced by the introduction of starch. It needs to grow in surface area and efficiency. This takes time.
Step it up slowly in a trail - small groups, similar bodyweights, plenty of space, everyone comes to the trail, shy feeders are identified and removed from the group. It takes 10-14 days to adjust the rumen so don’t cut the corner any shorter than this, especially not with the volatile stormy weather wreaking havoc on appetites just now. Happy feeding.
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