This episode featured as part of the Agritech segment in partnership with Sensehub Dairy by MSD.

Testing has found beef cattle in West Otago carrying faecal egg counts more than 500 eggs per gram, five times the level they should sit at, Techion founder and managing director Greg Mirams says.

The discovery came from collecting samples throughout the area.

“Some of the counts were way over 500 eggs per gram, and they shouldn’t be more than 100,” he says.

The samples also carried a strong presence of haemonchus, a parasite normally confined to the North Island. Mirams puts it down to a moist season that lifted larval survival.

“The larval survival is higher because you’ve had that thatch of feed, and the UV light’s not getting in.”

He says cattle mask the burden.

“Unlike sheep, cattle don’t show those clinical signs visually as much as a lamb does.

“You could be losing half to two-thirds of their growth per day, but you visually don’t see it.”

Techion’s FEC Pack technology speciates parasites by image, letting farmers match the drug to the problem.

“The species data becomes increasingly important when you’re buying the right drug for the right problem at the right time.”

This episode featured as part of the Agritech segment in partnership with Sensehub Dairy by MSD. Leading agritech innovation with SenseHub® Dairy — the modular, end‑to‑end dairy system combining animal behaviour monitoring, milk intelligence and automation in one connected platform, backed by MSD Animal Health. For more information visit www.sensehub.co.nz

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