Update on Dung Beetle and Anthelmintic Reduction Project
In June we posted a short article outlining an exciting project being undertaken by Anuschka Marsman, of Prostock Vets, who was launching a project to monitor dung beetle populations and provide education to farmers on the reduced use of anthelmintics.
The project was being supported by First Milk, a national milk processor, which has a strong interest in regenerative farming. Further funding was provided by Farming Connect (1), Prostock Vets and the farmers themselves. You can read more about the launch of the project here.
We recently contacted Anuschka, to find out how the project was progressing. She emphasised there were only interim results available, with data only collected up to mid August, but already some interesting trends were emerging. As might be expected, there was some variation among the farmers around the timely submission of the monthly faecal samples. The concept was new to all of the 31 recruited farms, none of whom had utilised faecal egg counts in their drenching decision making previously. But regular samples were being received and results were being fed back, in a timely manner, so that the parasite burden was estimated, before a drenching decision was made.
Owing to the very wet spring in west Wales, the turnout was much later than normal, with few farms having stock on pasture before late May. By mid August a considerable reduction in anthelmintic usage, compared to the same period in the previous year, was being recorded: only four farms had wormed once compared to 10 worming one or two times the year before. But as Anuschka warned, the project was being run until November and there were plenty of opportunities for that picture to change over the next few months.
Pooled faecal samples from adult stock were also being analysed but no eggs had yet been reported. There were no significant dung beetle results reported at this stage but it was hoped that a 50% reduction in the number of farms using doramectin would have a positive benefit over the full grazing season. The initial meeting had educated farmers, and the vets, in the many benefits of a healthy dung beetle population, which include an increase in the number of phoretic mites that consume nuisance fly larvae. In conclusion, Anuschka’s project is now well underway, and it will be interesting to report the final results later in the year.
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