AI-Powered Innovation Helps Farmers Combat Rising Drench Resistance in Livestock

Added 3 months ago

By Hawke's Bay Future Farming Trust

AI-Powered Innovation Helps Farmers Combat Rising Drench Resistance in Livestock

A tech company based in Mosgiel is leveraging AI to help farmers determine when and how to drench their livestock. Traditionally, sheep and beef farmers drench their animals to control parasites, but resistance to these treatments is growing, partly due to climate change.

Techion, the company behind this innovation, processes over 30,000 faecal egg counts (FEC) annually. To expedite results, they’ve developed the Micro-I, a portable digital microscope paired with AI software, enabling on-farm FEC testing. Farmers can upload images of faecal samples to the cloud for analysis, receiving results within hours. This allows for timely adjustments to drench dosages while animals are still penned.

Parasites thrive in warm, wet conditions, climbing up grass blades for animals to ingest. Techion’s lab manager, Lisa Growden, explains that this AI-driven process helps farmers identify the parasite burden in their livestock. Depending on FEC results, farmers can adjust the drench actives' dosage—chemicals in drenches that kill worms.

With nine different formulations available, which can be used singly or in combination, Techion’s sales manager, Nicola McConnell, notes a troubling rise in drench resistance in recent years, exacerbated by climate change. Some farmers now find none of the nine drench actives effective.

Lab technician and farmer Terina Geddes corroborates these findings, observing that milder winters no longer kill parasites as effectively, extending their lifecycle and increasing their resilience. Techion hopes that precise chemical delivery, informed by AI, will help mitigate this growing issue.