Brand: SATURATE ® GOLD

Company: RAVENSDOWN


FORMULATION: concentrate for topical administration to sheep by «dipping», «spraying» or «jetting»

ACTIVE INGREDIENT(S):

CHEMICAL CLASS of the active ingredient(s):


INDICATIONS: SHEEP


PARASITES CONTROLLED * (spectrum of activity)

* Country-specific differences may apply: read the product label.


RECOMMENDED DOSE*

* Country-specific differences may apply: read the product label.

FLYSTRIKE CONTROL

  • Hand Jetting & Spray Races:
    • All sheep: 400 mL product in 100 L water (= 1000 ppm=mg/L cyromazine and 400 ppm=mg/L difubenzuron in the wash).
  • Plunge and Shower Saturation Dipping:
    • Ewes, hoggets and rams: 200 mL product in 100 L water (= 500 ppm=mg/L cyromazine and 200 ppm=mg/L difubenzuron in the wash).
    • Lambs (medium-term fly control): 200 mL product in 100 L water (= 500 ppm=mg/L cyromazine and 200 ppm=mg/L difubenzuron in the wash).
    • Lambs (long-term fly control): 400 mL product in 100 L water (= 1000 ppm=mg/L cyromazine and 400 ppm=mg/L difubenzuron in the wash).
  • The length of protection may be affected by factors such as weather, wool type, skin, wool diseases (mycotic dermatitis or fleece rot) and soiling of wool especially from dags.

LICE CONTROL

  • Hand Jetting & Spray Races:
    • All sheep: 200 mL product in 100 L water (= 500 ppm=mg/L cyromazine and 200 ppm=mg/L difubenzuron in the wash).
  • Plunge and Shower Saturation Dipping:
    • All sheep: 200 mL product in 100 L water (= 500 ppm=mg/L cyromazine and 200 ppm=mg/L difubenzuron in the wash).
  • For lice control on clean-shorn sheep or cover-comb shorn sheep with short wool (14-35 days after shearing).
  • Do not mix treated sheep with untreated sheep until at least 6 weeks after treatment.

Read the product label for further details on dosing and administration.


SAFETY

  • LD50 (acute oral) in rats:
    • cyromazine: 3387 mg/kg for the a.i.
    • diflubenzuron: >4640 mg/kg for the a.i.
  • Estimated hazard class according to the WHO classification of pesticides: U, unlikely to present acute hazard

Suspected poisoning? Read the article on cyromazine safety in this site. Diflubenzuron is another IGR with rather low mammalian toxicity.

Withholding periods (=withdrawal times) for meat, milk & wool (country-specific differences may apply: read the product label)

  • Meat: New Zealand: 7 days
  • Milk for human consumption: New Zealand: Milk intended for sale for human consumption must be discarded during treatment and for not less than 35 days following the last treatment.
  • Wool: New Zealand: 2 months.

WARNING !!!: Never use on humans, dogs or cats.

You may be interested in the following articles in this site dealing with the general safety of veterinary products:


RESISTANCE PREVENTION

Risk of resistance?

  • To cyromazine (blowflies): LOW
  • To diflubenzuron (blowflies & lice): HIGH
Cyromazine is a particular case regarding resistance development. Blowflies developed resistance to most chemical classes and active ingredients that were successively used for their control in Australia (and to a large extent in New Zealand too):
  • Organochlorines (e.g. DDT, dieldrin): introduced in 1946 in Australia, field resistance detected in 1957. Withdrawn for safety reasons in the 1970s.
  • Organophosphates (e.g. diazinon, malathion): introduced in 1957 in Australia, field resistance detected in 1965. Withdrawn for safety reasons in Australia in the mid 2000s.
  • Benzoylphenyl ureas (e.g. diflubenzuron): introduced in 1993 in Australia, field resistance detected in 2001. Claim for blowfly strike prevention removed in Australia in 2008. Since then approved only for lice control.

First cases of blowfly field resistance to the chemical classes mentioned above appeared usually about 10 years after product introduction. Other chemical classes such as synthetic pyrethroids (e.g. cypermethrin) and macrocyclic lactones (e.g. ivermectin) have been used only marginally for blowfly strike prevention during these years, i.e. it can be assumed that the selection pressure on blowflies exerted by chemicals of these two classes has been rather low.

In 2012 a first report on Lucilia cuprina cyromazine tolerance was reported (Resistance Factor = RF ~3) almost 40 years after the introduction of the first cyromazine product (VETRAZIN Liquid for dipping and jetting) in the late 1970s. In 2020 field resistance of blowfies to cyromazine has been reported for Lucilia cuprina in Australia with a RF of about 25. These blowflies have been reported to be also resistant to dicyclanil and ivermectin treatment.

To our knowledge no reports on resistance or tolerance of blowflies (Lucilia cuprina, Lucilia sericata) to cyromazine have been reported in New Zealand, UK (and other EU-countries) or South Africa, regions where cyromazine has been also vastly used against blowfly strike for decades.

Diflubenzuron. Resistance of blowfly strike to diflubenzuron and other benzoylphenyl-ureas is widespread in Australia and New Zealand. However, blowflies resistant to diflubenzuron will be probably controlled through the cyromazine in the formulation of this product. Resistance of body lice (Bovicola = Damalinia ovis) to diflubenzuron and other benzoylphenyl ureas has been reported in Australia, but seems not be a problem yet in New Zealand. The presence of cyromazine in the formulation of this product will not prevent it because cyromazine is ineffective against sheep lice.

This means that if this product does not achieve the expected efficacy against the mentioned parasites, particularly against lice, it may be due to resistance and not to incorrect use, which is usually the most frequent cause of product failure.

Alternative chemical classes/active ingredients to prevent resistance of blowflies through product rotation:

These alternative products may not be available in all countries, or may not be available for dipping, jetting or dressing.

Learn more about resistance and how it develops.


MARKETING

Are the active ingredients of this product ORIGINAL* or GENERICS**?

  • GENERICS

*Meaning that they are still patent protected and generics are not yet available
**Meaning that they have lost patent protection and may be acquired from manufacturers of generic active ingredients other than the holder of the original patent.

COUNTRIES where this brand/product is marketed: New Zealand
GENERIC BRANDS available? Rather few ones so far with such a particluar composition.

Click here to learn more about GENERIC vs. ORIGINAL drugs.

Click here for an overview on the most used antiparasitic BRANDS witoncentrates for dipping, spraying, or jetting.


COMMENTS

SATURATE GOLD for sheep from RAVENSDOWN is a so far unusual combination of two IGRs, cyromazine (a specific flystrike preventative, ineffective against lice) and diflubenzuron (effective against flystrike, lice and sheep keds).

Cyromazine is a so-called Insect Growth Regulators (IGR) belonging to the group of the Chitin Synthesis Inhibitors (CSI). It was introduced in the late 1970s (by CIBA-GEIGY → NOVARTIS → ELANCO). It is narrow-spectrum larvicide. It is abundantly used in sheep, moderately in poultry, marginally in horses, but not in other livestock or pets. It is also moderately used in agricultural pesticides.

Diflubenzuron is another veteran IGR, the first benzoylphenyl-urea discovered, already in the 1970s (by PHILIPS-DUPHAR). It is also a CSI effective against numerous insect species. It is moderately used in sheep, very scarcely in other livestock but not in pets. It is also moderately used in agricultural pesticides. It was introduced for use as a lousicide in sheep in Australia only in the 1990's (under the TM FLEECARE from HOECHST), when lice developed high resistance to synthetic pyrethroids, which lost approval for lice control. Diflubenzuron and other benzoylphenyl-ureas subsequently conquered the sheep body lice market very quickly in Australia after resistance to synthetic pyrethroids exploded and organophosphates that still worked well were progressively withdrawn for safety reasons.

Chitin is a component of the cuticle of insects, which is an essential part of their outer skeleton. If chitin is not properly produced, larvae die when they attempt the next molt. However, cyromazine does not really inhibit chitin synthesis, but interferes with its correct deposition. The consequence is the same: Fly maggots cannot complete molting and die. Other CSIs such as the benzoylphenyl ureas (BPUs, e.g. diflubenzuron, triflumuron) do actually inhibit chitin synthesis. But whereas BPUs exert this effect an almost all insects, cyromazine is quite specific for Dipterans (flies, mosquitoes, etc.) and some beetles. This makes it much less harmful for the environment, but also ineffective against other sheep pests such as lice. Most IGRs have no lethal effect on adult insects.

As all IGRs, neither cyromazine nor diflubenzuron have a knockdown effect. This means that larvae (of blowflies, lice or keds) will die only at their next attempt to molt to the next developmental stage, which may take several days to occur, depending on age of the larvae at the time of treatment, humidity, temperature, etc. For this reason, IGRs are usually not used for curing established infestations, but for preventing their development by killing the larvae, and thus preventing the development of parasite populations in the fleece.

Cyromazine is quite soluble in water, in contrast with many other parasiticides that are rather lipophilic. This means that heavy rains may significantly shorten the length of protection of this and other cyromazine-based products.


DISCLAIMER

This article IS NOT A PRODUCT LABEL. It offers complementary information that may be useful to veterinary professionals and users that are not familiar with veterinary antiparasitics. 

Information offered in this article has been extracted from publications issued by manufacturers, government agencies (e.g. EMEA, FDA, USDA, etc.) or in the scientific literature. No guarantee is given on its accuracy, integrity, sufficiency, actuality and opportunity, and any liability is denied. Read the site's DISCLAIMER.

In case of doubt contact the manufacturer or a veterinary professional.