As part of his agricultural engineering class in Lincoln University’s Bachelor of Commerce (Agriculture) degree, Herries developed the dual vaccination gun that will allow for the administration of two vaccines, two minerals or one of each at the same time.
The idea of making the dual vaccination gun by adding another cylinder seemed simple at first.
“As it turned out, that wasn’t the case,” Herries said.
“There are many different vaccination guns available and I narrowed it down to three – revolving, side-by-side and under and over cylinder guns – to look at adding another cylinder.
“After testing the first two options, these were ruled out, being bulky, dangerous or difficult to hold and control. The third option, the under and over cylinder, worked, thankfully, and we didn’t have any issues with control or health and safety.”
An issue that required consideration was ensuring there were no animal health problems for the stock by injecting them with two needles simultaneously.
For example, if injecting a vaccine that contains live spoors, the other injection should not contain chemicals that could deactivate these spoors. To prevent that, the needles were positioned 3cm apart.
Herries said the benefit the vaccination gun will have for farmers is threefold.
“Farmers will save time and money and, as a result, there will be an increase in stock productivity back out in the paddock and a decrease in stress for stock and farmer alike.”
Another key benefit of the dual vaccination gun is that both cylinders can be set to administer different volumes and can be administered by just one pull of the handle.
