Dealing with resistance to wormers was one of the key messages at NSA Sheep 2011 held at Hexham, in Northumberland.
Novartis was the main sponsor of the event which was attended by more than 7,500 visitors, 250 stands and over 40 breed societies and associations.
Fiona Anderson, a vet for Novartis, said there was a lot of interest from farmers about resistance management, and a great willingness to learn more about treating animals with this in mind.
"We had some very good feedback about using Zolvix as a key component in treating worm infestation and at the same time dealing with the resistance issue. We still have some way to go but it is heartening to see the willingness that farmers have to adopt good practice," she said.
Fiona’s afternoon seminar was on the subject of sustainable use of anthelmintics, or wormers, and in the morning she held a seminar on ectoparasites.
"Blowfly has been a particular problem this season because of the warm dry weather but there was a lot of satisfaction expressed about the blowfly preventative CLiK. We were also able to inform people about the increase to the Vetrazin meat withhold to 28 days, and the introduction of CLiKZiN as a short meat withhold blow fly preventative product at just seven days," she said.
Simon Hunt, Senior Veterinary Account Manager with Novartis gave a practical demonstration of the innovative new Zolvix optiline drencher.
Lewis Forster, who farms at West Nubbock, where the show was hosted, said he had used Zolvix for the first time this season and had seen a noticeable difference in the health of his stock.
"We used Zolvix, and it has clearly had an impact. I think we will continue to use it, and will consider quarantine dosing later in the year," he said.
Zolvix, which was launched by Novartis Animal Health in March last year, has played an important role in managing resistance, including the treatment of internal parasites that have resistance to older classes of wormer.
Before the launch of Zolvix there were three groups of broad spectrum anthelmintics available in the UK. The white - benzimidazoles or 1-BZ, yellow - levamisoles or 2-LM, and clear - macrocyclic lactones or 3-ML. Resistance to one of them is already widespread, and there is growing resistance to all three.
Zolvix has created a new fourth generation of anthelmintic, to which there is no resistance, which is known as the 4-AD, or orange drench class.
Zolvix can be used to treat sheep and lambs, including pregnant and lactating ewes, and breeding rams, due to its impressive safety profile. It also has a short meat withhold period of just seven days, which allows flexibility when marketing lambs.
It should be used in every flock every year to treat lambs in mid to late season, as guided by faecal egg count tests, and it should also be used as a clean out dose at quarantine time for all incoming sheep to avoid bringing resistant worms on to the farm.
Best practice should be followed during use, with reference to the SCOPS guidelines. It is recommended that farmers should contact their vet to define the correct programme for their farm.
