Long-acting drench capsules have been part of sheep farming history on some southern farms, and now we face a future without them. 

Some drench capsules are currently under review and we expect this to take some time. But, don’t despair - this change may save your bacon when it comes to drench resistance!

There is no doubt that providing parasite control for 100 days during lambing and lactation supports ewes to make more milk, maintain their condition and grow bigger lambs. However, we can break down the capsule components to see what other options are available:

Selenium 

Drench capsules contain sustained selenium supplementation. If your ewes are low/marginal in selenium, this supplement will have shown huge benefits. However, we can still supplement in a sustained way using a SelovinLA injection.

Cobalt 

Sustained vitamin B12 was also supplied in drench capsules. The positive benefits to this for adult stock are potentially minimal and many animals won't have shown any production benefit from this addition. However, if you feel that it is important to your stock, this can be covered using SmartShot B12, or SmartShot B12 + Se (the selenium in this is long-acting).

Drench

Moxidectin is the only long-acting drench active that can give extended parasite control like a capsule. If you have done a drench test on moxidectin and found it to be effective, you could consider using the long-acting injection, Exodus LA. If you haven’t tested, you may still have time to – contact us ASAP.

We should always exercise caution around the use of this product and we would love to discuss with you how to put some support around it to ensure it does not increase your risk of drench resistance. 

(Moxidectin has the same mode of action/resistance as abamectin, which is a component of many oral combination drenches, hence why we need to protect its use).