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What are my options for disbudding?

A NZ trial published in 2019 has looked at pain relief and sedation of calves at the time of disbudding on behavioural responses, pain sensitivity and weight gain. It showed that all calves that received sedation had a lower pain sensitivity than those that just had local anesthesia. In the same study calves that received sedation, local anesthesia and metacam (meloxicam) had a 0.144kg/day greater average daily gain in the 7 days following disbudding than those that just received local anesthesi...

Water!

Water is something that we have plenty of here on the West Coast. It is essential to life and certainly for dairy cows. Milk is 85-89% water. Hence, why water is the most important component of the dairy cow’s diet. (Of course dry cows and young calves do need water too!) One lactating dairy cow can drink up to 200 litres per day. This depends on feed type, body size, milk production, temperature, humidity of the environment, water access and quality. Water problems are often unnoticed an...

Calving box preparation

We are fast approaching calving so it’s a good idea to ensure you’ve got everything you need in one place....

Spring checklist

Time to get your 'ducks' in row for this Spring.  Check out our handy Bovine checklist for July and August....

New calf disbudding regulations

Everyone should be aware of the new MPI regulations for disbudding that came into effect on the 1st of October last year; local anesthetic MUST be used when disbudding and dehorning animals. In this regulation Disbud means to destroy, by ANY method, free-floating immature horn tissue. Failure to do so can result in a criminal conviction and fines of up to $3000 for individuals and $15,000 for businesses. We are here to make your disbudding experience less stressful! You have a couple of opt...

Multimin reminder

As you all know, newborn calves are the most vulnerable to disease on the farm and trace elements are essential for immunity and production.Multimin contains zinc, manganese, selenium and copper in a chelated form, which is tissue friendly. The minerals are absorbed into the blood in 8 hrs and the liver in 24 hoursNew Zealand trials have shown, when supplemented with Multimin at various ages, there is a decrease in neonatal disease such as scours and naval infections and a decrease in death rate...

Fluid Therapy in Calves

Check out the key ingredients to look for in your electrolyte formulation.There are many different electrolyte solutions sold anywhere you can buy animal health supplies. Different solutions have their pro’s and con’s so there are some key ingredients to keep an eye out for that are important to ensure dehydration is corrected.The building blocks to an electrolyte solution: Sodium - to help correct dehydrationPotassium and Chloride - these are lost in the faeces when the calf ...

Tip of the iceberg or an invisible problem...

We all know about milk fever (clinical hypocalcemia) right? And we all know that it can be stressful if we get many of these cases? But how much do we know about the not immediately visible form of this disease, called subclinical hypocalcemia?Some farms encounter issues with wobbly and down cows due to milk fever more than others, but it’s hard to find a farm that does NOT have to treat a single case. World wide (including NZ) the incidence of clinical hypocalcemia over calving is on average ...

Fluke and worm testing

A final reminder before drying off about the bulk milk fluke and worm test.This is a cost-effective option to test your herd’s exposure to parasites through a bulk milk test. The test measures the levels of antibodies in your sample to both fluke and worms. It can detect an increase in antibodies from as early as 3 weeks after infection and is highly accurate (98%).The test results will give you an indication of the percentage of animals exposed to fluke and the worm burden of the herd. Knowin...

Scour vaccines

At an already stressful time of the year , sick and scouring calves is frustrating and demoralising. Extra time spent having to look after these calves means:1) less of a break for the calf rearer2) less time spent putting your time energy into the healthy calves3) lower growth rates in calves4) potentially less replacements than required due to deaths.Calves are born with no immune system, so require antibodies from their mother. These antibodies are not passed through the placen...

Down cow prevention

“Something that might happen in Spring” you might think now, but now is the time to think about how to prevent those costs and losses of these down cows!A down cow will have a higher chance of having metritis, mastitis and reproductive issues. So, if you have treated more than 2% of the herd for milk fever over last Spring, or you just want to have less problems over the coming Spring, prevention through nutrition might be the solution! As our down cow seminar was having technical issues, or...

Teat Sealing

How much heifer mastitis are you getting? Heifer mastitis rates are over 25% on many New Zealand farms. The cost of this mastitis was measured in a 2009 NZ study which found each case of heifer mastitis costs $197 when calculated using a $5.50 pay-out. This means that with a pay-out of $6.70, each heifer with mastitis will cost you over $200! This cost considers the treatment cost, labour for treatment, milk discarding and culling.Mastitis infections in 2-year olds and 3-year olds...

Dry cow

It's that time of year again to start thinking about dry cow options for your herd. Due to covid-19 we will be doing your dry cow consults a bit differently. However, we are having a lot of success with consults over the phone or by video calls; and are even able to go through mastitis and SCC data from infovet with you as well. We have ordered dry cow stock in early this year and have it ready to go – just as soon as we have been through your dry cow&nb...

End of Season Scanning Summary

This 2019 spring was quite challenging so most with poor weather and cows not showing trong heats. This reflected in a below average submission rate and subsequently a lower than average conception rate.The 6 week in calf rate (WICR) is the best indicator of how mating went for people as it gives everyone a set time period, whereas empty rates vary drastically depending on your mating methods (AI or bull) and mating period (with ranges between 9 weeks to 16 weeks). The 6 WICR is drawn from ...

Veterinary Services: Covid-19 Level 4

As you will be aware, the Covid-19 Alert Level has now essentially been raised to 4. We have been informed that veterinary services are classified as an essential service, but that we will be restricted in how we operate. Please take time to read this information below.Small AnimalsWe will be postponing all non-essential routine procedures for Small Animals at our clinics from Tuesday 24th March. We apologise for this but will rebook all these appointments from the 4th of May (or earlier if appr...

Doing our bit to flatten the curve

Even with all the changes related to the control of Covid-19 it's relatively business as usual for us - keeping your animals healthy and happy. However, you may notice that we are implementing a few changes to do our bit to flatten the curve.Unbelievably a government department has been first rate on its communications - giving very clear expectations on what we should all do. The Ministry of Health, led by Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, has communicated clearly on Covid-19's a...

Body condition scoring and drying off

As we flick our calendars over to March it’s time to begin making adjustments to milking herd management. How you manage your herd in the next couple of months will have a significant impact on BCS at calving, which in result, will affect reproductive performance come mating time.The first step to meeting calving BCS targets (5.0 for mature cows and 5.5 for R2s and R3s) is to BCS all milking cows. This allows you to draft out groups of cows with the intention to implement a mixture of strategi...

Synchronisation treatment plans

A new study this year has found that 10% of cows on the ovsynch program did not ovulate after the day 7 PG jab because levels from the 2ml did not reach sufficient concentrations in the body to effect the ovary. The trial shows that raising the dose to 3ml increases the concentration enough to causethese 10% of cows to ovulate and have the potential to conceive at the fixed time AI. Therefore our ovsynch and prosynch protocols this season will be using 3ml...

How are your cow's levels?

Copper, selenium and magnesium are vital to a cows health. Copper is stored in the liver but selenium and magnesium have no storage mechanisms in the body. PP+ is an inclusive package which includes 5 liver biopsies, and 8 bloods, ideally from a mix of different aged animals and body condition animals, so we get an idea of the mineral status of the herd at this time. Additional tests can be added including; calcium, B-OH (as measurement of ketosis), G...

24 hour turnaround milk testing

Mastitis is frustrating! Even more so when we don’t know where it is coming from or we are having trouble clearing up cases. We have a test available at the practice which gives us results within 24 hours to help improve overall cure rates in your herd. Mastatest identifies the type of bacteria and the most effective antibiotic treatment for each case of clinical mastitis. What we require is a milk sample from the infected quarter before any treatment has been given.This can be collected in sa...