Dr Steven Johnston is a farmer based in Ballymena, Co. Antrim in Northern Ireland running Easycare sheep, and is also a RoSA sheep advisor. Steven has diagnosed drench resistance since 2006. In this presentation, he shares his insights into building the right sheep system, Easycare sheep performance, what is drench resistance, results of drench efficacy testing on his farm, the best practices principles in avoiding and managing drench resistance, trial results from incorporating Targeted Selective Treatment (TST) by adopting the SmartWorm parasite management app, and some conclusions and recommendations, including the potential to use data to breed for resistance and resilience to parasites.
The above clip was recorded on May 22nd at the 2024 Smart Sheep Farming Open Day Series presented by Cotter Agritech. This part of the series took place on the farm of Padraig Frasier in Louisburgh, Co. Mayo. The event started with a farm walk where John Noonan, the local Teagasc Organics Advisor chatted with Padraig about the farm system.
Participants then moved to the handling area to see Padraig's new facilities, where the Cotter Crate Sheep Handler was demonstrated, as was the NEW Small Trailer and Large Trailer options. The Automed automatic dosing gun was also demonstrated.
Speakers and exhibitors at the Smart Sheep Farming Series included Teagasc, the Irish Farmers Journal, Sheep Ireland, Organic Trust, the Irish Organic Association, the Easycare Sheep Society, Cormac Tagging and TrueNorth Technologies.
00:00 - Intro
01:32 - Farming in Northern Ireland
03:44 - Building the right sheep system
04:10 - The most important thing on your farm
05:22 - Easycare sheep performance
10:22 - What is drench resistance
15:56 - Drench efficacy on the farm
17:05 - Targeted Selective Treatment (TST)
21:37 - Trials results using the SmartWorm app
25:03 - Conclusions and Recommendations