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Scanning options with VetSouth

Scanning season is fast approaching for us vets, and just as it gets quieter on the dairy farm for you guys, we crack right into one of our busiest times of the year! In fact, we have already started doing our first aging scans for heifers! Many farmers are starting to age scan their heifers to work out which cows have held to AI if they ran a PG synchro or CIDR program. They can then easily identify who the AI replacement calves are, and potentially calve them down in a separate mob. It is als...

Summer diseases of young cattle

We have talked elsewhere about the impact, monitoring and treatment of issues with trace elements and parasites on our youngstock. So instead of covering more about those, this article is an overview of some more common diseases seen in weaned calves to keep an eye out for this summer....

VetSouth delivery FAQ

Everything you need to know about our on-farm delivery service! Sometimes you just don’t have enough time to get all the jobs done, let alone popping into town to pick up stuff for the farm. Our clinics have a delivery service, servicing the wider communities ensuring you get your products on-farm when you need them. We understand how hard getting into town can be when you are under the pump, which is why our delivery teams head out every day to help you get the products you need. We have been...

Covid-19: 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 time. In...

Sudden death in cows

Fast-growing young animals, and high performing adult cattle, especially those grazing redeveloped pasture, intensive feed systems (clover, chicory, or high sugar grasses), or switching to supplements or crops, are at high risk of being found dead, or sudden death syndrome. ...

Meet our West Practice Manager: Lis

I grew up in Dunedin and had a strong interest in agriculture. I studied a Bachelor of Agriscience and then worked on a farm. After that, I moved to Omarama to work for Vetlife. Moving to Marama for work also worked with my other passion - flying glider aeroplanes. I worked for Vetlife in the McKenzie Region for five and a half years then for another two years in their dairy consultancy business. We moved south to contract milk and began working for VetSouth in 2019 as the West Retail Lead. Thi...

Clostridial and B12 vaccinations

Put your hand up if, every year in late summer, you have a beautiful mob of lambs ready to go to the works, then you find one or more suddenly dead in the paddock a few days before the truck comes? This tends to be relatively common on sheep farms, and also in some beef mobs too. This sudden death syndrome in fat, fast-growing lambs is usually due to clostridial bacteria. It can also occur when lambs are on a high-octane summer crop. What can be done to prevent these deaths? Most sheep farmers ...

Triple drench resistance: Not just a North Island problem

Drench resistance is happening in the South. Vet Donna looks at how it can be managed. Every year we run some Faecal Egg Count Reduction Tests (FECRT) on our farms to see how well the drenches are performing. In the past, we have found that in many cases there is some level of resistance to the single active drenches. However, over the past few years, we have been finding more and more drench resistance to the drenches in double and now triple combinations in our patch – Otago and Southland!...

Twisted gut in working dogs

Large breed dogs with deep chests like our beloved Huntaways, are more susceptible to twisted guts. Gastric dilatation volvulus (GDV), often referred to as “a twisted gut” is a common, life-threatening condition in large, deep-chested dogs around the world. In NZ there is a high incidence of this condition in Huntaway working dogs. ...

What is Cheesy Gland?

Sounds a bit like cob loaf but I assure you, it's not quite as tasty. For a lot of farmers, this disease is unheard of; but this annoying bit of pus can be costing more than you think. What is Cheesy Gland? Cheesy Gland is a bacterial infection caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. This bacterium causes abscesses in lymph nodes and internal organs, mainly the lungs. How do I know we have a Cheesy Gland problem on-farm? A problem may exist on farms when shearers report more abscesses than...

What is Salmonella Hindmarsh?

How to reduce risk to yourself and your animals. Enteric salmonellosis of sheep is a bacterial disease causing outbreaks of diarrhoea and death. Salmonella Hindmarsh is usually the cause, however Salmonella typhimurium, and bovis-morbificans can also cause issues. Most outbreaks occur between December and June, usually after a period of stress, such as transport, yarding, high stocking rates, or sudden changes in feed. These events can result in changes to gut bacteria, allowing salmonella to pr...

Working dogs: Feeding for performance

Unlocking nutrition can be the key to a successful working dog. If you were to speak to the All Blacks or Lisa Carrington about eating well for performance, you would discover they employ chefs and nutritionists to ensure they are eating the best for their performance on the field or on the water. Well, your working dog team can put some serious kilometres in and why not focus on their nutrition to get the most out of their performance? Dogs preferentially burn fat for sustained energy over prol...

A tail to tell

Tail breaking is one of the most common cattle-related welfare complaints that go through court in New Zealand. It is a breach of the Animal Welfare Act and likely constitutes serious misconduct. Tail damage is painful for cows and research shows an average of 20% of dairy cattle in New Zealand, approximately one million cows, have abnormal tails. Some of these have been shortened for medical reasons or it was performed before it became illegal, some have been damaged, and some have a dislocatio...

Are your bulls ready for mating?

Although it may feel like calving has only just started, it’s not long until thoughts shift towards mating. Whilst it is important to ensure your cows are in good condition and have plenty of feed, it is also vital to remember the other key player in your mating success – bulls. Bulls must be in tip-top shape in order to achieve maximum success at mating time. Condition should be on target (BCS 6-7) and they should not be suffering from any disease or illness. In addition, all bulls should m...

Cow technology and utilising data

You might have seen them, or you might already be using them. Cows with fancy looking ear tags, or in some cases cows wearing collars with strange ornaments on them. These “things” are not there to just look nice, they contain sensors helping farmers to collect data from their cows. They come in pretty handy for farmers and vets alike. ...

Drenching calves

Questions about drenching calves arise every season and over the years recommendations on what the right thing to do change - which can make things confusing. In this article we will discuss: when to drench, grazing issues, and practical animal health management. All of which can lessen the impact of worms. Let's start at the beginning when calves first go out onto pasture and are still on milk....

Eye diseases in dairy cattle

How often do you look at your cows’ eyes? Have you ever seen something weird or unusual? It can be easy to miss changes and diseases of the eyes as we spend so much time focusing on the rear end of a cow. As we know, cows are prey animals so they are programmed to hide all weaknesses for as long as possible. Often the only way to tell if a cow is blind is when she unexpectedly bumps into objects. Cows learn their environment so often you can’t tell if she is blind until she goes to a new env...

M. Bovis and heifers

Beef and drystock herds are now entering into the M. bovis surveillance programme. This also includes grazing dairy heifers. The good news is that this new programme of work has been contracted to vet clinics around the country. This means that we can combine any surveillance testing with any other routine work such as scanning, trace element testing or even general cattle work. This programme is currently voluntary, but it’s a great opportunity to get in and get your stock tested for free and...

Protect your calves with Covexin10

Clostridial disease is an easily preventable deadly disease in cattle and sheep. We know vaccination works really well in preventing death in animals. Last season we introduced the use of Covexin 10 at disbudding time. This year, this is on offer again....

Finding the right balance

Stephanie Allison is a familiar face both on-farm and in the clinic in the West. As a tech, her routine varies, with early starts and long days, maintaining a healthy balance is something we all struggle with when things get tough. Out of the clinic, you are likely to see Steph in the squash courts or spending time with family on the farm, but these actions are decisions she actively makes to look after her mental well-being. With this week’s focus on how we can look after ourselves when the p...

Meet our Invercargill Practice Manager: Ruth

I grew up on a sheep farm in Otahuti, and always had an affinity for animals. I graduated as a Veterinarian in 2007 and returned home to Southland working at our Gore VetSouth clinic, initially as a mixed vet, and then was drawn towards a Small animal focus. I worked as a Veterinarian for VetSouth for nine years before deciding to focus on my other passions; CrossFit and Olympic Weightlifting; both as a gym owner and as a NZ representative athlete. I sold my CrossFit gym in 2018, and in 2019 ret...

Cervical Dysfunction in horses – More than just a ‘pain in the neck?’

While sitting up late one night watching the Dressage Competition at the Tokyo Olympics, I was intrigued by the different shapes and breeds of horses that competed, built so differently and yet required to complete the same high level movements asked of them by their rider and scored accordingly. There were Lusitanos and Andulusians, that while built with a natural topline and frame were also heavier on the ground and required incredible strength to perform a passage compared to the ‘elastic b...

Home breeding: What are the facilities like at your place?

The determination of timing for breeding and to establish pregnancy requires veterinary examination of the mare's reproductive tract. This procedure is done by inserting the veterinarian's arm into the rectum to allow manual examination of the ovaries and the uterus. Rectal examinations are not an innocuous procedure for both mare and vet. Many vets have been hurt and some even killed performing this common procedure. Vets risk being kicked or crushed and there is a risk the mare's rectum can be...

Infundibular Caries

Besides sharp (enamel) points and diastemata - one of the other things we look for with our dental examination is infundibular caries. The infundibulum is an extra tubule of enamel folding - the enamel is responsible for the sharp points. Infundibular caries can be found in the maxillary (upper) cheek teeth, as the lower cheek teeth normally don’t have an infundibulum. ...

Leptospirosis in deer

Why is it important to protect against Lepto? The most widespread strain is Hardjo-bovis, but Pomona and occasionally Copenhageni has been reported in farmed deer in New Zealand. Leptospirosis is known in different species, including humans, where it can lead to flu-like symptoms, which can progress to serious sickness if left untreated. The bacteria is (depending on the strain) carried by cattle, rodents, pigs and possibly dogs. Those carrier animals spread the bacteria in their urine without b...