Hazell Mullins: We cannot bury our heads in the sand over drug resistance

One Irish study discovered on a selection of Irish dairy and beef farms that 100% of the farms had ivermectin resistance

It is nice to be back to reality on the farm post wedding, the honeymoon is well and truly over and my first task on my return was taking faecal samples from our calves, I think that was as far from the Italian Riviera as you could be. Despite the lack of glamour involved in faecal sampling, diagnostics has a vital role to play in the parasite control plan on a farm. We have moved away from calendar dosing and now rely on results from diagnostics such as faecal egg counts, bulk milk sampling, and clinical signs to determine when to dose. The calves that have now been on grass for six weeks were not thriving and also their dungs were very loose, so this calls for sampling.

Resistance was perhaps something we chose to believe was not in Ireland and it was a problem in other parts of the world. We cannot bury our heads in the sand any longer as Irish research undertaken over the past number of years has proven that there is widespread resistance to anthelmintics currently in Ireland. One particular study by AC Kelleher et al 2020, discovered on a selection of Irish dairy and beef farms that 100% of the farms had ivermectin resistance, 73% exhibited resistance to Moxidectin, and 18% to Levamisole. This particular study highlights that we are at a pinch point in Ireland’s parasite story where we can change this narrative and start to treat antiparasitics with the respect they deserve.