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Trace element testing

With zinc season ending and winter approaching, now is a great time to test your herd’s mineral status, and copper levels in particular.    Cows in late pregnancy and youngstock have the greatest demand for growth, and so are most negatively affected by low trace element levels.   ...

Calving in autumn

Autumn calving is becoming increasingly popular in the Waikato for many reasons, including longer, warmer days and improved hygiene conditions as cows calve. However, along with the benefits come certain challenges and key considerations that need to be accounted for, particularly when milking through the winter. ...

Tips for reducing heat stress in cows

Water  Cows require 100L of water each per day in summer and can drink at a rate of 20L per minute! Make sure your water troughs can keep up with demand – both the flow rate to refill troughs and the size of troughs matter for this. Clean water troughs to keep palatability of water up.  Cooling  Wet down the yard surface prior to cows coming in to cool it down.  Water sprinklers over the yard are a good idea, however they need to spray enough water to wet cows through to th...

Feeding out in dry weather

Rain is in short supply at the moment, and grass even shorter. Most farmers have been feeding out for a while, so here are a few things to consider as this dry period stretches. ...

Getting up to calving weight

It is more efficient to put weight on cows when they are milking than when they are dry, and it’s easier to put it on with higher quality feed. So now is a great time to set them up to be in good condition for calving. When on leafy summer pasture with 10 megajoules metabolisable energy per kilogram of dry matter (MJME/kgDM), on top of daily requirements for digesting food, walking, producing milk and maintaining a pregnancy:A lactating cow would need to eat 4kgDM to gain 1kg.  A dry...

Managing a late season increase in your BMSCC

Here are some tips when dealing with a late season increase in your bulk milk somatic cell count (BMSCC):  Strip the herd (manually milking the teats) to check for clinical cases of mastitis. Regular stripping (e.g. one quarter each milking) can help you quickly detect new cases. Use herd test information to identify subclinical mastitis/high SCC cases. When considering how to manage these cows look at: - Age,- Pregnancy status,  - Udder/teat conformation,  - H...

Tackling facial eczema

You’ve probably all seen cows with facial eczema (FE) damage; poor animals with peeling skin desperately seeking shade.The fungal spore that causes facial eczema requires dead vegetable matter, warmth and moisture to thrive. Once eaten, the spores produce mycotoxins that cause the cow to process Chlorophyll (the green pigment in plants) differently, resulting in liver damage and photosensitivity – think English tourist on a Spanish beach levels of sunburn! The best way to prevent facial...

Getting prepped for scanning

With calving not long over and mating still very much in full swing, it may feel like it’s too early to start thinking about scanning. However, planning your scanning now will make it easier to secure the dates that suit you best, so that you can get the most out of it. In cows, we ideally want to be scanning between 40 and 100 days after mating in order to provide the most accurate dating. Beyond 100 days, calf size has increased to the point where it becomes much more difficult to take ...

All things trace elements!

As calves go out to graziers, it is important to ensure that they have enough building blocks to support their growth into the 2025 season. With so many products available, it can be difficult to determine which are best for your calves. Below is a quick summary of three main trace elements that may affect their growth rate and some supplementation options: ...

Teat scoring

Maintaining a Bulk Milk Somatic Cell Count (BMSCC) under 150,000 cells/ml is a sign of a healthy productive herd. To keep BMSCC down, there needs to be low levels of mastitis in the herd. Mastitis is the end result of complex interactions between the cow, bacteria, the environment, milking machine and the farmer. The aim of mastitis control is to limit the number of bacteria on the cow’s teats and to reduce the risk of bacteria entering the udder through the teat canal.Checking (or ‘sco...

Calf weaning tips

Weaning your calves based on weight and meal intake ensures their successful transition towards becoming healthy heifers.  To meet their weaning weights, calves need the appropriate amount of feed and to be properly prepped. Weaning can be quite a challenging, transitional time for calves since their main source of food changes from liquid (milk) to solid (pasture) and they are going to be exposed to new bugs when they go into new areas of the farm. Before weaning, some factors ne...

A look at internal parasites

Internal parasites take up some time and energy to manage in calves and cattle, so here is a little bit of information to help you understand what you are treating. In general, worm larvae are swallowed from contaminated pasture once calves start grazing it. The larvae have overwintered in the pasture or cowpats, from the previous cattle/calves on the pasture. They then complete their lifecycle inside the calf, either in the gastrointestinal tract, or, in the case of lungworm, they burrow i...

Choosing the right pet

Pets bring so much joy to a family. They give affection and love, make us laugh, and have a positive effect on our mental health. However, before choosing a new furry addition, it is important to put thought into what kind of pet is the most suitable for your household.  Things you need to consider are:  Your lifestyle Do an honest assessment of your lifestyle and think about how a pet will impact this. Your daily routine with children, work hours and other commitments, as well as...

Itchy dogs

Is your dog scratching, biting, licking, rubbing his skin, or rolling on the ground? Allergic skin disease can cause significant discomfort to companion animals and is a common reason for dog owners to seek care for their pets. The cause of the itchy problem will most commonly be due to: ectoparasites (usually a flea allergy); food allergy; bacterial infection, or an environmental allergen, such as tree and grass pollens, moulds and dust mites. This condition is known as...

Using technology to combat antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance is becoming an increasing concern in both human and veterinary medicine. Since many drugs are used in both sectors, it's crucial for all of us to use antibiotics responsibly.  To help guide treatment choices, antibiotics are classified into three categories, based on their risk of resistance and importance to human health: Green - first-line choice Orange - second-line choice Red - last resort. For most cases of mastitis, penicillins like Intra...

Optimising non-cycling cow programmes

Synchrony programmes play a key role in helping you improve reproductive performance and animal efficiency and reduce on-farm emissions. Treating non-cyclers is one tool in the toolbox.  Over the last 12 months, new studies have looked at tweaks to the standard non-cycler programmes, adding some confusion around what the best programme looks like. Profitability from using non-cycling programmes comes from getting your cow in-calf early, through Generating more days in milk;&n...

Wishing you a successful mating

There was a significant range in our clients’ mating performance last season and, despite the reduced use of CIDR’s, the mating results actually showed a slight improvement - as they did right across the country. Nevertheless, there are still gaps in most mating programmes that can always be improved upon. Here are some of the basics to focus on: Attention to detail Dedicated heat detection and monitoring (experience counts here); Accurate execution of synchronisation protocol...

Anxiety in dogs

Anxiety is a normal emotion experienced by all dogs from time to time.Some dogs, however, are more prone to experiencing it than others. If they display disproportionate levels of stress, there is a risk they may develop an anxiety disorder, which may lead to behavioural and other issues. Some of the most common causes of anxiety in dogs are fear, separation, and aging. Fear Fear-related stress can be brought on by different things, including loud noises, strange people, or animal...

September/October – the season of sick cows

As calving calms down, production ramps up and cows start cycling. The lush grass and unpredictable weather breed the perfect conditions for cows to succumb to various conditions. If you have a cow who has rapidly become unwell, some of the things we may find include Mastitis (especially black mastitis),  Badly infected uteruses, Gut issues/twisted stomachs - such as left displaced abomasum (LDA), right displaced abomasum (RDA), or mesenteric twists, Acidosis, also ...

Worm your way out of thin animals

Parasitism is a major cause of production loss in livestock. Based on current information, many New Zealand farmers are using anthelmintics in a manner which will result in drench-resistant worms and drench failure. Once present on a farm, worm resistance to anthelmintics is permanent. Therefore, selective drench use and herd management is key to delaying the presence of drench resistant parasites.  Every farm is unique, so effective worm management may differ for each farm. Compl...

Pre-mating prep: Get your herd service-ready!

With most farms over halfway through calving, there’s more time to slow down and think about mating, which usually happens at the end of September or early October for most spring dairy herds. We want to make sure that as many cows get into calf again this season, so preparing them for mating is vital, especially for the new batch of heifers. Here are some tips to prepare your herd before planned start of mating (PSM): BCS – We want our mixed-age cows to be at least a 4.0 BCS ...

Is your cat a Fat Cat? Avoiding feline obesity

A trend of increasing numbers of obese cats has been seen worldwide, and New Zealand is no exception, with one in four cats here classified as overweight or obese.  This extra weight has an impact on our feline friends’ health and quality of life. Many health concerns are linked to obesity, for instance arthritis and diabetes. It is common for owners not to recognise when their pet is overweight, or the health implications of being “cuddly.” This is backed up by research tha...

Mastatest and HiSCC in early lactation

Reducing mastitis in the colostrum herd is key to preventing future mastitis cases in the milking herd. Wash teats, if they are dirty, with a low-pressure hose. Teat spray colostrum cows before and after milking to kill bugs, improve teat condition, and assist milk let down. Strip quarters to check for mastitis at every milking.  Agrihealth recommends: Rapid Mastitis Test (RMT) each cow at the eighth milking after calving (10th milking for heifers); If any quarter is RMT posi...

Thoughts from the sideline: Dealing with an international vet shortage

Internationally, veterinary practices are struggling to attract and retain quality veterinarians, and New Zealand is no exception. There doesn’t seem to be any shortage of young people wanting to be vets, but tertiary funding streams are bottlenecking supply. Thankfully, a number of new vet schools are popping up in places such as the USA and the UK, but the supply volume is unlikely to correct industry shortages in the next 5-10 years.  New Zealand has a high dependency on inte...

Calf vaccine regime – Lepto 4-Way

Calving will be well underway now. The best time to book calves in for disbudding is between 2-6 weeks of age. For some farmers, there will be some big changes to the calf vaccine protocol with the new Lepto 4-Way vaccine. Your KeyVet should have discussed this with you at your RVM consult. Here is a refresher of the vaccine programme we recommend for calves: From 2 weeks of age: Covexin 10 (clostridia protection), often given at time of disbudding.   From 6 weeks of age: Covexin 1...