On a drizzly December morning, Richard Shaw is getting ready to sell his second lot of lambs. Having this many lambs away before Christmas was not a guarantee a few years ago, but swapping pasture for plantain has allowed Richard to fatten faster and reduce worm burden on-farm.
In the hills of Parikino, near Whanganui, is the Shaw family farm. Richard is the third generation, with his grandfather started farming sheep and beef after WWII. Now, around 2,000 Romney ewes and steers roam his 400 ha.
“We are fortunate to have a blend of flat and hilly land. After grazing our flat paddocks in spring and summer, our herd head to hills for a feed. But when we were not getting our lambs off farm as quickly as we wanted, we thought it was a good time to shake things up,” says Richard.
A visit to PGG Wrightson Whanganui turned out to be fortuitous timing for Richard and Store Manager, Kelly Sullivan.
As part of the PGG Wrightson (PGW) Academy programme, a partnership between PGW and Primary Industry Training Organisation (PTIO) to complete a Certificate in Rural Servicing over the course of 12-months, Kelly had one major requirement— to work with a client to identify a production issue and develop a solution.
Suspecting drench resistance could be an issue, Richard and Kelly devised a plan that would not only finish his lambs faster but also reduce his need to drench. Their plan started with swapping 10 ha of pasture to plantain.
“Plantain is easy to maintain, you can treat it the same as grass, and the stock went straight on to it,” explains Richard.
To investigate the possibility of drench resistance, Kelly and Richard’s Technical Field Representative Liam Marshall brought along Technical Expert for Animal Production, Jo Harris.
“From a drench check and, faecal sampling seven days post-drench, we found resistance was an issue, but fortunately we had several levers to pull,” explains Jo.
One of those levers is grazing a summer forage crop, which primarily provides better nutrition in the summer than grass.
It can also reduce worm burden by making it harder for L3 worm larvae (the infective stage) to thrive and less likely to migrate to where they will be eaten. When the reinfection rate of lambs decreases, it can extend the time between drenches.
Monitoring Faecal Egg Counts (FEC) in conjunction with weight gain determines the need for drenching, so testing at regular intervals after 28 days on the crop is critical.
“I was a bit old school; I drenched at the same time year after year because that is just what you did. Now, with Kelly and Jo, I drench only when necessary,” Richard says.
Kelly loves seeing Richard’s farm reach its goals.
“Not only is Richard getting his lambs away much earlier, but his worm burden has likely reduced, while his spend on drench has gone down. Plus, he now has plenty of feed,” says Kelly.
For Richard, the technical advice has been invaluable.
“I did not know about PGG Wrightson’s Technical Team before this, and this has been amazing. Their support is incredible. I know the Tech Team is there to offer options and support, rather than just trying to sell me something I do not need.”
Now, Richard has things in hand, and with solid agronomy advice from Liam, he plans to put in 11 ha of leafy turnips in the spring, followed by more plantain and clover.
“Introducing a new crop was already part of the plan, but I would have been drenching like I always had before working with Kelly and Jo. I have been so pleased with the results of the first year, so I can only imagine what is to come.”
