ESPERANCE veterinarian Dr Enoch Bergman has been announced as part of a panel of six eminent Australian beef, dairy and sheep experts who will mentor farmers in a new and unique challenge.
The Multimin Performance Ready Challenge will see each of these industry leaders teamed up with an Australian farmer to provide specialist on-farm mentoring around the use of Multimin trace mineral injections for beef, dairy and sheep.
From Colorado, USA, Mr Bergman has been a practicing vet in Esperance for 14 years.
He has an interest in Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) and established Australia’s first commercial laboratory for the diagnosis of animals Persistently Infected with BVDV.
Previously the president of the Australian Cattle Vets, Mr Bergman has sampled thousands of local animals for hundreds of clients attempting to benchmark their animal’s micro mineral status to allow targeted supplementation.
The Multimin Performance Ready Challenge is the latest national marketing campaign from Virbac Australia that will see up to seven Australian farmers receive 12 months free use of Multimin and the chance to share in prizes valued at over $31,000.
Virbac Australia livestock nutrition product manager Dr Jerry Liu said that this was an extraordinary opportunity for farmers to have some of the best animal nutrition and animal health advice on their property.
“Trace minerals are essential elements for healthy sheep and cattle,” Mr Liu said.
“We know that during high demand periods such as joining, weaning and birthing, animals have higher requirements for certain trace minerals.
“Multimin injections are designed as a trace mineral top-up to improve the performance of cattle and sheep when they need it most.
“The vets involved in the Challenge are pivotal to its success - they will play a major role in educating farmers in the use of Multimin to improve animal fertility and health and ultimately the farm’s financial bottom line.”
Mr Liu said that Mr Bergman would offer a wealth of experience and knowledge to the challenge.
“His experience in trace mineral supplementation and improving producer’s profitability will be invaluable to our western challenger,” he said.
Mr Bergman said he is looking forward to working with the WA challenger to improve the performance of their livestock.
“Deficiencies of copper, cobalt, and/or selenium are exceptionally common in the Esperance area,” Mr Bergman said.
“I believe appropriate and timely micro mineral supplementation is a key production driver for WA producers.
“I have seen first-hand some of the benefits that Multimin is delivering and am keen to work as a Multimin Performance Ready Challenge mentor to further document the value Multimin can deliver to Australian beef, sheep, and dairy producers.”
The challenge will be followed world-wide via social media with challengers providing regular updates, blogs and videos of their progress.
At the end of the 12-month challenge period, the mentors will shortlist the top performing challengers and voting will open to the public to select an overall winner.
The most successful challenger will win an overseas experience of a lifetime for two and free Multimin for an additional 12 months.
First prize is valued at more than $21,000 and will offer professional development tailored to the winning challenger and their farm.
Second and third prize challengers will receive a further six months free Multimin valued at over $5000 each.
Entries for the Multimin Performance Ready Challenge close on January 31.
Farmers are encouraged to enter the challenge via the website.
For more information or to enter the Multimin Performance Ready Challenge visit au.virbac.com/multiminchallenge
