SwabTec

We had a great time this week sampling the wethers at @BalmoralBreede1. We have a target of 4000 saliva tests to be completed when ASBVs WECs are being performed. This is to validate the saliva test as a suitable measurement of worm resistance!

We had a great time today at Sheepvention talking worms, antibodies and breeding worm resistant sheep using saliva. Come and see us tomorrow if you would like to find out more. @FedUniAustralia @LaunchVic @beanstalkagtech @VicGovAg #meatsheep #Sheepvention #merinos

SwabTec is thrilled to secure a $50,000 AgTech Grants Program from @LaunchVic and @AgricultureVictoria The grant will help us take our ideas from the lab to the farm, and provide farmers with a simple saliva test to help breed worm resistant sheep.

@EmCharlotteAnn @DarrenPOBrien Thanks Emily. I'll give you a DM to discuss further.

@SwabtecInfo @DarrenPOBrien If you need any commercial animals to validate against in WA, let me know!

Got busy today trialling the new worm test, using saliva to detect antibodies. Development by Federation Uni and Dr Sarah Preston #obrienmerino

Excited to see @DarrenPOBrien trialling out our saliva test to breed worm resistant sheep and helping us collect validation data to support its use Australia wide.

@DarrenPOBrien @EmCharlotteAnn It should be faster than WEC to collect, you're always guaranteed a sample and don't require a big worm burden to measure. We are currently validating the test in multiple studs across Australia.

@EmCharlotteAnn I'm not sure what the plan is ,but at the moment, it is a swab inside each cheek for 10 seconds ,then in a test tube

@DarrenPOBrien @EmCharlotteAnn Hi. Thanks for your interest. We are working on a lab test and a pen-side strip test to breed worm resistant sheep. The strip test takes 10 min to read so we have found that bigger studs would still prefer to send off samples to the lab.

@DarrenPOBrien @FedUniAustralia Thanks Darren for trialling out our test. We are looking forward to analysing the results!

THANKS FARMERS! 9000 TESTS (NOW) BOOKED IN. @SwabTec thanks everyone who has signed up for our on-farm trials to measure worm resistance in sheep. Big shout out to the Kealys at Curlew Merinos, @beanstalkagtech & Victorian Sheep and Goat Compensation Fund for your support.