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Why FB Drilling backs every bore
In a drying climate, many farmers are swapping the old-school water-finding methods for data, deep rigs, and specialists who understand groundwater from rig to rock.
FB Drilling has grown from a single water-bore rig in 2017 to a six-rig fleet, drilling from shallow stock bores through to 1,500-metre Great Artesian Basin (GAB) production bores across Queensland and New South Wales.
From one rig to a deep regional footprint
Founder and managing director Scott Ferrier spent more than 15 years drilling oil and gas wells before turning his skills to rural water. That background influences everything from bore design to equipment choice.
“You’ve got to know your pressures, your mud weights, and what’s happening downhole — you can’t see it, but you’ve got to understand it,” he says. “That experience means we can think ahead and avoid problems before they happen.”
The company employs roughly 20 people, plus contractors, to keep bores turning from Windorah to Moree and beyond.
Highest standards for farm bores
FB Drilling lifts the bar on rural water-sector drilling by using regulated, high-grade steel casing, lab-tested cement blends (to stop leaks from the bore casing), and well-maintained, high-end rigs.
Those practices, combined with detailed geological research and sampling from every metre down the hole, are designed to give clients a straight, stable bore that keeps doing its job.
“We’re using lab testing for cement reports, so we know the bore is going to last longer,” Scott says. The company guarantees a reliable, functional bore – not a specific lifespan – and prices per metre based on depth, hole size, and travel distance.
Securing water for herds, crops, and towns
Most of FB Drilling’s work is about water security for agriculture: stock and domestic bores for cattle and sheep producers, bores for mixed and grain farms, and deep production bores for broadacre farming.
What farmers care about, says Scott, is performance they can trust. “Every job we do, we’re trying to provide the best for the client,” he says. “We want them to have a bore that works, that’s reliable — that’s what really matters on the land.”
Benefits of choosing FB Drilling
- Highest construction standards applied to farm bores
- Regulated steel casing and lab-tested cement for durability
- Local geology knowledge across Great Artesian Basin country
- Tailored bore design for stock, spraying, and irrigation needs
- Per-metre pricing that reflects depth, size, and travel
- Reliable, functional bores backed by a quality guarantee
website: www.fbdrilling.com.au
email: admin@fbdrilling.com.au
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
