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Repro results round-up

The highlight of these events was sharing the strong reproductive results achieved by our farms this season.The average 3-week in-calf rate across all VetSouth farms was 50%, against an industry target of 53% (which is what the best herds in New Zealand are expected to achieve)....

The case of a locked leg

I was recently on-farm for a routine visit, when the farmer mentioned that he had an odd lame cow that hadn’t yet responded to any treatment.When we looked at her, she was dramatically lame, with a back leg that swung to the side wildly as she walked. The lameness seemed so serious, it nearly caused the farmer to euthanise her rather than getting a veterinary exam – but luckily I was already coming out to the farm for another job.On physical examination, I found that the kneecap was locked ...

Are summer crops reducing worm burdens?

We’ve seen plenty of lamb fattening crops planted across Southland this season, often driven by the need for ‘cleaner’ feed with lower parasite contamination, increased feed value and a desire for better lamb yields. For some farms, they’ve also been used to help lift ewe performance. Below are three sets of 10 individual faecal egg count (FEC) results. They are from lambs that have been grazing crop (kale and clo...

Pre-lambing management strategies

Lots of you will be scanning soon, which is an ideal time to check on your ewes’ condition and trace element status, and make a plan for spreading them out later in the season. Some of the main opportunities at this time include: ...

All bark, sore bite!

These hard-working animals will often appear ‘normal’ despite having advanced disease processes.Working dogs are at risk of damage to the teeth, whether it be from working with livestock, vehicle accidents, or just wear and tear from gnawing bones and other chewing behaviours. Some of the most common injuries we see are excessive wear of the teeth from chewing, and ‘slab fractures’, where part of a large part of the back tooth breaks away.A tooth root abscess can form when the sensitive ...

Hidden dangers around the sheds

Recently, we treated a working dog who had a lucky escape after suspected slug bait ingestion. Her owner noticed she was shaking uncontrollably and rushed her into the clinic, suspecting she had accessed slug bait stored in the shed. She arrived with a dangerously high temperature and severe muscle tremors caused by metaldehyde (the toxic ingredient found in many slug pellets).The dog required intensive treatment, including repeated doses of muscle relaxants, active cooling, intravenous fluids, ...

How a pre-surgery blood test saved Rocky

Gorgeous Ragdoll kitten, Rocky, came into our Invercargill clinic last year for what should have been a routine desexing procedure. As part of his admission paperwork, his owner opted for a pre-anaesthetic blood test.It’s a simple step we strongly recommend before surgery, as it helps identify hidden health issues that could affect how a pet handles anaesthetic drugs and recovery. In Rocky’s case, that decision may well have saved his life.Prior to this test, everyone thought Rocky was a per...

Salmonella in dairy cattle on the rise

There are around 2600 strains of Salmonella identified worldwide. The most common strains seen in cattle in New Zealand are S. Typhimurium, S. Give, S. Bovismorbificans (primarily affects the gut) and S. Brandenburg (primarily causes abortions).In spring 2025, numerous outbreaks due to these serotypes were seen on both the South Island and the North Island. Last year, MPI reported the most cases of Salmonella in cattle ever recorded in New Zealand (see Figure 1 below)....

Bull sales: Key considerations before you buy

Here are a few things to consider to help you select the right bulls for your herd and ensure they’re in top health:  The bull sale catalogues will be in mailboxes and online now. Take your time to read up about the stud breeder you’re looking at and make sure they are focused on the same things you need from your cows. It’s a good time to give them a call to discuss their philosophy and how they go about running their stock. &nbs...

Protect your pack: Essential vaccinations for working dogs

Keeping your team healthy, happy, and ready for the job is a top priority. Following a simple vaccination programme is one of the most effective and straightforward ways to prevent serious diseases that can sideline your best animals.  There are two key vaccines that we recommend your team stays up to date with. These are what we call the ‘core’ vaccine and canine cough.    ...

Improving milk quality

You’ll be hoping that the Dry Cow and/or teat seal you put in is going to do its job over the dry period and they’ll come back all cleaned up of any infections.However, as much as we’d like to think that will happen, it’s not always the case. Wishful thinking doesn’t amount to much when it comes to mastitis! So, if you want to have less mastitis to deal with and better results next season, now is a great time to make a plan.Improving milk quality does not have to be complicated or expe...

What the FEC: Testing up 38%

This year (July 2025 - April 2026), we have done 663 FEC tests through our Parasight machines across our clinics. That is a 38% increase on the 2024-25 year and covers both individual samples and composite tests for sheep, beef and dairy animals.Testing is an important part of an effective parasite management programme and we are happy to see more farmers checking on the status of their stock instead of just blanket drenching.As well as helping to prevent drench resistance, testing can be benefi...

Analysing phantom cow results

Across all the regions we service, we’re seeing a big increase in dairy farmers wanting to do phantom scanning.In our East and South Otago hubs (which includes our Gore, Tapanui, and Balclutha clinics), we had 18 farms do at least one phantom scan this season – and several did up to four scans to catch as many phantoms as possible!The outcomes from these scans:...

Prepping ewes for the winter

So much of the farming year is about preparing stock to winter well.We work on crops, supplementary feed and body condition in almost every month of the year to help ensure they can handle whatever the southern winter throws at them....

What the FEC: A mixed bag of results

Some samples coming through from drench checks have been very good, but only a handful. The majority are showing some leakage, through to high egg counts after drenching. This means looking at the drenching procedure, checking drench guns and further investigation on drench effectiveness.We’re also seeing a wide range in 28-day FECs. Some lambs on crop still need drenching, while others don’t. Meanwhile, those on permanent pasture are also showing a mixed bag of results. It’s great to see ...

New Crypto vaccine for the toolbox

Calf scours are one of the most frustrating problems on-farm to manage. Not only do they result in reduced growth rates and more calf deaths, they also increase the workload of calf rearers and can be disheartening.There are many infectious causes of scours in calves.  The most common one down here in the South, which most farmers will have experienced, is Rotavirus. Another nasty one that can crop up is Cryptosporidium parvum (Crypto), a gastrointestinal paras...

Baleage wrap: A cautionary tale of two cows

Please note, this article contains medical photographs taken during post-mortem examination.A short while ago, I was asked to carry out a post-mortem exam on a cow that had bloated and died earlier in the day.This was a cow that I had seen before for a severe pinkeye infection, and she was quite blind in both eyes. However, she was not expected to die from that! She had been pregnancy scanned the day before, so I also had to consider the possibility of a perforated rectum.When I opened the abdom...

The team behind the team

Part of this wider team is Farm Services, whose role is to make life easier for both farmers and vets by doing the groundwork that allows the vets to focus on practical animal health work as much as possible.They manage all vet and vet tech calendars, booking routine visits, organising appointments for core services such as pregnancy scanning, and coordinating the likes of the recent Ram Run.Collectively, they handled over 11,230 phone calls in the past year. That’s more than 322 hours on the ...

Watch out for Hairy Shaker Disease

HSD, or Border disease, is a form of pestivirus in sheep, very similar to Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) in cattle. It is often the cause of poor scanning rates, barren ewes, abortions, stillbirths, and the birth of weak lambs.This highly contagious disease can be spread from ewe to lamb via the placenta or milk, from ram to ewe during mating, and between ewes via nose-to-nose contact.Ewes that are infected will not show any clinical signs. The effect of HSD depends on when they are infected:Healt...

Ewe focus: Trace elements

Two key elements to consider prior to mating and before winter are selenium and iodine. Selenium plays a vital role in immune function, fertility, and lamb viability. Southland, as we know, has very deficient soils, meaning pasture alone usually does not meet requirements. You can check your stock’s selenium status with a blood test measuring glutathione peroxidase (GPx). This reflects selenium intake over the previous few months. GPx levels <4 - indicate deficiency and ewes should receiv...

Do you need to do larval cultures?

An LC is when faecal samples are cultured at the lab to see what type of worms are present. They hatch the eggs and count the different types of larvae (e.g. Ostertagia, Trichostrongylus, Haemonchus) and then let us know what percentage each one represents in the sample.   These parasites lay eggs that are practically the same, so they can’t be differentiated in just a FEC, which simply counts the number of eggs present. Why woul...

Condition counts: Score now for scanning success

Light ewes at mating will have worse lambing performance come spring. Ewes should be at body condition score (BCS) 3-3.5 for tupping.  What does BCS 3-3.5 look like? Well, if there is more than 6 weeks’ wool on the sheep, you will have to FEEL to get the full picture. To do this:  Place your hand with the thumb on top of the spine and fingers along the short ribs (flank area).  With your thumb, you should be able to feel the spine, but not particularly e...

The autumn parasite flush

Over the previous 6-7 months, we have had lots of parasite factories (lambs and calves) grazing our pastures. These young animals do not yet have an immunity to parasites and provide high levels of contamination onto the pastures.  Autumn weather also provides an excellent environment for parasite eggs to hatch and for larval development.    One thing we hear from farmers is that they want to “challenge their replacement stock” so that they develop a g...

Dairy cow nutrition at dry-off

There are a lot of changes that occur in a dairy cow around the time of drying off in order to transition her from a lactating cow into a dry cow, including:Milk production needs to slow down to, ideally, 5-10 L/day in the 1-2 days leading up to dry-off (not always achievable in high producing cows), before completely stopping in the 1-2 weeks after the final milking.The rumen needs to adapt to a dry cow diet, which is often very different in both nutritional quality and quantity.The cow’s req...

Test trace elements with PP+

Trace element testing can seem like an expensive investment, but it’s an important part of getting the best performance out of a dairy herd.Production Profile Plus (PP+) is our dairy trace element monitoring programme. It aims to simplify the monitoring process, lower the costs, and give dairy farmers the information they need to make more informed decisions around supplementation.Through the programme, we do blood and liver tests at key times of the year to check trace element levels: pre-cal...