The proper insertion of hormone growth promotants can make a huge difference to a feedlot’s bottom line.
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For the past three years Coopers Animal Health has given a Revalor Top Gun Award to highlight excellence in implant induction performance and industry best practice at the Australian Lot Feeders’ Association annual conference.
This year, SmartBeef 2017, was held at the University of New England, Armidale, and the award was shared equally between four feedlots that only had four defective implants each over an entire year.
The winners were Kurrawong Feedlot, Teys Condamine, Wonga Plains and JBS Mungindi.
Coopers national account manager Rob Baines said 25 yards with around 300,000 head took part in the competition and over 12 months each was audited quarterly by Brett Kowitz (Toowoomba) in the north and John Bull (based in Albury) in the south.
For each audit, 100 head were taken as a sample and assessed for defective implants – animals that were either missed or suffered from an abscess.
After each audit, participants were given their results and standing in the competition.
“The idea is really to reward excellence and the people who work under often tough conditions,” Mr Baines said.
“The accuracy of implants, vaccines and medicines directly impacts feedlot performance.”
He said, overall, throughout the competition this year, implant retention rates were around 95 percent.
“For the top performers there’s not a lot of room to improve as they have been so consistent at nearly 100 per cent,” Mr Baines said.
“It’s those in the competition who didn’t do so well who can use their results to improve and that can really have an impact on their business.
“We found the induction crews were just so keen to get it right and the competition helps to provide an industry benchmark, that’s really useful to each crew.”
Mr Baines said it was a well-deserved win for all four, but particularly JBS Mungindi, which has placed second for the past two years.
Teys Charlton won this year’s encouragement award, starting in 19th position and finishing in fifth place, just shy of the leaders.
In second place overall was Condabri, with only five defective implants for the year, while in third place was Gundamain.