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Scanning into the future

As the seasons start to change, many of us are glad to be able to put calving behind us and to start planning ahead for the season to come. We are now deep into mating, with heat detection, CIDR’s, AB’s and bulls and our charts and little pocket books filled to the brim with dates and numbers. While we’re in the midst of making plans for the coming season, let’s not forget the benefits of early age pregnancy scanning, which include:Knowing the efficacy of your reproductive performan...

Bovine Digital Dermatitis

Bovine Digital Dermatitis (BDD) - also known as hairy heel warts, digital warts or strawberry foot rot - is a contagious disease causing painful inflammation of the skin above the heel bulbs, leading to lameness. Rear feet are affected in 90% of cases and new cows tend to get infected 2-8 weeks after entering the herd, resulting in an often higher prevalence among heifers. After infection, cattle do develop some immunity to the disease.While BDD cases within NZ dairy herds are low and often...

Bolster your biosecurity

With the heightened awareness of Foot and Mouth Disease earlier in the year, as well as the country still being in Mycoplasma bovis eradication mode, evaluating your farm’s biosecurity plan is a great way to protect yourselves and your community from exotic and pre-existing diseases. Diseases such as Bovine Digital Dermatitis are highly contagious and there is always a threat of disease introduction to your farm, which can result in compromised animal welfare, productivity and profitabili...

Nutrition in rabbits

You may or may not know, but rabbits have a very specific diet that is crucial to their health and survival, and no, it does not consist of lettuce and carrots! Rabbits are herbivores and have evolved to develop a digestive system that digests fibre and extracts other nutrients. This is amazing, but it does mean they must be fed a very specific diet. 80% of this diet should be hay and long, fibrous grass, which they should have access to at all times.The other 20% i...

At-home dental care

Maintaining good dental care at home, in between visits to the vets, is really important for keeping your pet's teeth clean. It should be part of your daily routine.Here are some at-home dental care options you can try to help keep your pet's smile gleaming year-round:Teeth brushingYou should regularly clean your pet's teeth with a pet-friendly toothbrush and paste to prevent plaque and tartar buildup. You could start off by smearing a dot of toothpaste on your finger and using it to clean, befo...

Getting to the guts of your pet's gastro issues

Gastroenteritis is when your pet's stomach/intestines become inflamed and it is common in cats and dogs. Anything that alters their microbiome significantly can lead to the condition, including:Changes in intestinal floraA food allergy or sensitivityGastrointestinal (GI) ulcersGI cancersForeign bodiesIntestinal obstructionGenetic disease or predispositionIngestion of spoiled or raw foods, or of non-food itemsViruses (parvovirus, distemper, etc.)Intestinal parasites.Signs to look out forSometimes...

Chicken Care 101

Recent regulatory changes banning battery cages for layer hens in NZ mean supermarkets are now only accepting cage-free eggs. This is a great win for our feathered friends, who now have the room they need to be happy and productive, but it has left our egg shelves a little bare! In a bid to ensure we have eggs to go with our bacon, there has been a dramatic rise in Kiwis taking matters into their own hands and buying chooks.TradeMe reported a whopping 190% increase in searches for...

Chocolate - the sweet but deadly treat

Chocolate is delicious - to both humans and dogs. Unfortunately, dogs are much slower to metabolise theobromine, one of the chemical components in chocolate, making even a small amount potentially toxic for them.While at the time it might seem funny that Fido the golden lab has had a good nosh on the block of chocolate left on the table, within a few hours, we might not be laughing so much. ...

A healthy guide to feeding pets

When feeding your beloved pet, whether it be a new puppy or kitten, or an older cat or dog, there is such a thing as ‘loving them too much’. Overindulging your pet can lead to health problems if they become overweight, so knowing how much, how often, and what to feed them is important.Pet food bags have feeding guides on the back which help you with the ‘how much’. This healthy amount of food can be tailored to suit your pet and could be split up into many feeds throughout the day, depen...

Winter tips for pets

The seasons have changed, and the togs have been replaced with jackets and hats. Not only do we feel the change, but so too do our pets. During this time please consider what you can do to keep your pets happy and healthy.Here are some key things to keep in mind for our pets this winter.Older Pets: Senior pets are likely to struggle more, particularly if they have joint issues such as arthritis. Keep them warm and comfortable in a snug bed with extra padding. Check-in with a veterinarian if you ...

Poison of the season: Rat bait

Every autumn and early winter we see a number of cases of rat bait poisoning in dogs, either via direct ingestion of the rat bait or less often by ingestion of rats/mice that have died from eating the bait. It is clear that dogs find these baits very tasty. Cats on the other hand are fussy about what they eat and prefer their prey to be alive and therefore are less likely to be poisoned. ...

Ukraine's Paws & Peeps Fundraiser with New Zealand vets

Times are tough at the moment, but can be and are even tougher for others.With the current situation in Ukraine, we did our bit with a fundraiser from NZ to support animal welfare and those that provide it in Ukraine.What is more important in this situation: animals or people? It’s a tough call, but we know we can do a little something to ease the suffering so far away.We are stoked to share that our business along with our generous staff, clients and the NZ community, we raised $3,000 in...

VCM proud to support Meat the Need

Vet Clinic Morrinsville are proud to be a sponsor of the Meat the Need charity, a kiwi based operation aiming at connecting the dots and getting New Zealand meat into our food banks.Whilst there has been a need for a charity like this, to date, there has been a missing link between the willing farmer with livestock and the community organisations with the demands for a regular, reliable supply.Here at Vet Clinic Morrinsville, we are Here for Good, which means we are here for the long term and fo...

What does the traffic light system mean for vet clinics?

We are currently operating at Traffic Light Orange and committed to keeping all animals and communities healthy. We’re following the Ministry of Health’s recommendations and requirements. We respect your personal circumstances, so let us know if you have any specific needs. You are welcome in our shop, and we ask you to follow the usual requirements of wearing face masks, contact tracing, maintaining a distance of 1m from other people and limiting the numbers in store at any given ...

What does Level 4 mean for vet clinics?

As you will be aware, the Covid-19 Alert Level has been raised to 4. Veterinary services are classified as an essential service, as previous, we will be partially restricted in how we operate. It is a legal requirement for both employee and customer to wear a face mask at business or service. Please take time to read the information below.Small AnimalsAs an essential service, we will continue to offer animal health services, however, we will operate as a closed clinic with no entr...

2021 scanning results

The final average (mean) empty rate for this season was 17%. The median was 14%. Many farmers have had an increase in their final empty rates this year and only a small number improving on last year. Repro performance is multifactorial and there is a lot that can be looked at with a good thorough investigation of MINDA data, as long as aged pregnancy testing has been done. Please chat to your vet if you would like to look at this in greater depth. A couple of potential contributing factors that ...

She's a bit loose

Johne’s Disease is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, which causes thickening of the intestines, preventing them from uptaking nutrients. This results in the classic presentation of a chronically scouring poorly conditioned cow. However, these cows are just the tip of the iceberg - for every clinical case, there will be 10 - 20 subclinical cows, who can still spread the disease. The disease as a long latent period and usually 5-8 year old animals are affec...

Pesky parasites

Young cattle are still developing their immune system until they are 18 months old, so are the most vulnerable to worm infection as well as being the main source of pasture contamination. We often see clinical disease in spring-born young stock associated with high parasite burdens in late autumn. The aim of parasite management is to limit the larval intake and reduce pasture contamination. Reducing intake can be achieved by avoiding paddocks grazed by young stock the previous season, avoiding h...

Blood-Sucking Barber's Pole

Barber's Pole worm (Haemonchus controtus) is the vampire of the parasite world. The parasite infects sheep and goats, sucking so much blood it causes severe anaemia. Goats and sheep with large burdens will be lethargic, pale, scour and may develop bottle-jaw, with death not being uncommon. The first time you know you have a problem may be when you see dead animals. Barber's Pole worm replicates very quickly in the hot, humid conditions of summer. It has a 14-day lifecycle and adults lay up to 10...

Maintaining body condition in summer

Keeping an eye on body condition year-round is important to maintain good animal health and have them in the best shape for calving and mating next season. Cows at target body condition score (BCS) will have reduced illness, better fertility and optimal milk production.Target BCS at calving are 5.0 for mature cows, and 5.5 for first and second calvers. From calving to mating, BCS should decrease no more than 1.0. No more than 15% of the herd should be below and no more than 15% should be above t...

Sunburnt and sore

This time of year Facial Eczema is on everyone’s mind. However, you may be seeing signs of photosensitivity (“sunburn” or “scald”) despite the spore counts still being low. At this time of year, brassica summer crops (forage rape, turnip) are also being fed, and these can result in photosensitivity occurring at a similar time to Facial Eczema.A cow suffering from photosensitivity will be agitated and restless in the early stages. She may seek shade. Red and inflamed teats are often not...

Facial eczema

Facial Eczema (FE) is a disease caused by a fungus that grows on the grass. The fungus produces spores in warm and humid conditions (ie January to May), which release a toxin that causes liver damage when eaten by cows. The liver is then unable to metabolise chlorophyll in grass properly - these un-processed particles then react with sunlight to cause skin inflammation and overt disease.However, these clinical cases of swollen and sloughing skin only represent 5% of affected animals - if only on...

Staggers and stumbles

Already we have seen a lot of chaos from calves and cows with “staggers”. Ryegrass staggers is a nervous disease caused by grazing endophyte infected ryegrass. It is not to be confused with “grass staggers”, which is caused by magnesium deficiency. Endophyte is a fungus which protects the plant from attack from pests (giving them a production advantage), however, the fungus also produces a toxin, which when ingested, causes cows to lose their balance.Controlling the disease can be frustr...

Early pregnancy scanning

By now the bulls are out on many farms and people are able to relax a little bit more- apart from cutting more silage! This is a good time to look ahead and book in herd pregnancy testing.Performing an early PD at 12-14 weeks after the start of mating (with a follow up 6 weeks after the end of mating) has several advantages:Able to age pregnancies and determine more accurate calving datesYou know which mating a cow held toAble to calculate a 6 week in calf rateYou can confirm they are in calf to...

BVD - don't ignore the calves!

Most farms are on board now with regular (3 times a year) monitoring of herd BVD antibody levels and checking for PIs (persistently infected BVD carrier) in the herd between calving and mating via the bulk milk. If you aren't doing this then discuss with one of our vets next time you see one.BUT what about the youngstock? When heifers enter the milking herd as 2 year olds we get an opportunity to use bulk milk to check that none are PIs..... if there is a PI, a...