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How to prevent weak lambs?

In the last few years, most farmers have experienced some turbulent weather during the lambing season – for many it was extreme! The 2020 snowstorm that hit our farm right in the middle of lambing was horrendous. But the stock were amazing. We saw ewes sensibly seeking shelter, ewes desperately showing us their mothering ability, lambs doing their best to bleat in the hope that mum would hear and even a few lucky ewe/lamb families tucked up warmly in a snow cave just needing a hand to get out ...

M. Bovis and beef herds

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...

MPI tailing regulation changes

From 9 May 2021, new rules for tail-docking sheep come into effect. Another lambing season is fast approaching and so it’s time to make sure you are up to date with tailing regulation changes! Here is a quick summary of what you need to know, but for more details please refer to the MPI Guide to the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations...

Scabby mouth

We normally see cases in late spring, but recently we saw a case in autumn. A timely reminder as to why vaccinating and prevention is the best approach. Scabby mouth (also known as contagious eczema, pustular dermatitis, orf etc.), is a viral disease affecting sheep, humans and dogs. Late spring, early summer is when we most commonly see the disease in sheep but this case was in mid-April. It lives in the environment or on incoming animals and can cause disease in those that haven’t had conta...

What to do with orphan lambs?

What's cuter than lambs playing in grassy paddocks and their little tails (or lack of) wiggling when they have a drink from mum? It's a great sight, but what about when mum can’t do a good job? How do we take over?...

Rural mental health: A vet's perspective

Vet Dan shares with us his story and the importance of "checking in" with your rural colleagues. As a production animal vet, we come across many different and challenging situations in our jobs every day. It is an incredibly unique role where we are invited onto farms many times throughout the year and build up long standing and often very close/intimate relationships with our clients. By far and away, these relationships are the best part of being a vet for me. Learning what your ambitions and ...

Broodmare vaccinations

Following the conclusion of the breeding season, it’s now time to make sure that your mare is appropriately protected during her pregnancy. There are three main vaccinations that we are concerned about during pregnancy....

Can we fix horses with broken legs?

Horse owners often ask ‘how is it some horses with broken legs can be fixed and some can't’. This is an interesting question as even though we are in the 21st century; surgical repair for major leg fractures is still very difficult. There still remains a large number of fractures that are not easily repaired. In many instances; a fracture, even if repaired can mean the end of an athletic career and this is often a reason owners elect not to attempt to repair. Horses usually break bones when ...

Hoof abscesses

While none of us really want to think about winter yet, the time of year for horse foot abscesses is drawing nearer. Proactive action surrounding hoof care and grazing management can help to prevent foot abscesses from becoming an issue over the autumn and winter months....

Osteoarthritis in your horse

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a commonly encountered cause of lameness and poor performance in the horse. It is a disease process of joints characterised by cartilage degeneration, subchondral bone sclerosis, osteophyte formation, varying degrees of synovial inflammation and periarticular tissue fibrosis. OA is most frequently manifested clinically as a slowly progressive lameness which can often be bilateral. There may be joint pain, a decreased range of motion, variable joint effusion and inflammatio...

Remedial hoof trimming – maintaining the balance

We’ve all heard the saying ‘No foot, no horse’, and when it comes to the performance horse, this certainly holds true. It has been long known that when it comes to lameness in the horse, 90% of the time the lameness is in the foot. While this may be true, we also must remember that a large number of injuries occur higher in the limb as a result of poor hoof balance. Horses have only one digit in each limb. They stand on the tips of the digit, balanced on a modified fingernail (the hoof cap...

Can your horse still bite carrots?

Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis (EOTRH) is a painful and progressive dental disease syndrome that can affect older horses. Affected horses are usually over 15 years of age. It mainly affects incisors, canines and in rare cases the cheek teeth. It usually starts on the outside incisors and progresses to the inside incisors. There are two different processes of the disease that can be seen separately from each other or can be seen together; the tooth can either resorb fro...

Cooperative Difference and WelFarm

The Cooperative Difference - what you need to know. As you will know, Fonterra have continued to evolve their Cooperative Difference (CD) and the details are now clear: You will recieve 7c/kg extra if you have achieved a certain standard that relates to 4 key areas. The good news is that for the Animals section, if you're on WelFarm you will automatically tick this box. Better still, from the end of this season, when you sign up to WelFarm the process will automatically generate a report for Fon...

Drying off with VetSouth? Easy.

With winter just around the corner and the season winding down, we have some useful tips for a smooth dry off if you have a VetSouth team coming to dry off your herd. The end of the road is near and we can all see the light at the end of the tunnel. We just have one more tiny, but kind of big hill to climb — drying off! If it’s your first time having the VetSouth team come in to dry off your herd (or if you just need a reminder), here is what you can do to make sure that the job is effic...

Intensive winter grazing

Nobody needs to be told that Intensive Winter Grazing (IWG) has been in the headlights for the past couple of years. 2019 gave us the Task Force, which then led to the 2020 Action Group, which itself was then disrupted by Covid. This group have now identified 7 ‘Short Term Outcomes for Animal Welfare’ which can be found on MPI's website. In between, of course, we have also had the government’s Essential Freshwater programme and ES’s interpretation of this; and also the establishment of t...

Lame cows

Lameness is one of the major animal health issues on dairy farms in New Zealand. There are large losses in productivity due to lameness. Researchers have placed the cost anywhere between $200 and $450/case depending on the disease, time taken to treatment, time of lactation and milk pay-out. Simply speaking, lame cows eat less, and therefore produce less and have a poorer reproductive performance compared to cows who do not get lame. Then there are the cows that need euthanasia as they cannot fu...

Remote Digital Autopsy (RDA)

A handy service for farmers needing a quick answer and find out "what went wrong". As well as traditional autopsies, VetSouth also offers Remote Digital Autopsies (RDA) as an alternative. This is a result of a study we conducted 2 years ago. The study was to determine whether we could adopt the Canadian system of Remote Digital Autopsy (RDA) here in NZ. This service is convenient for farmers who are looking to find a quick answer to why things went wrong for their animal(s), and some solid solut...

Tech Talk: Teat sealing

With our veterinary technician teams kicking into gear for winter, we find out what they are up to in preparation for teat sealing season. Every year, our teat sealing operations grow as our clients continue to choose us to seal their heifers. Heifer teat sealing is key to give heifers the best possible start to their milking life. Research has shown that by not teat sealing your heifers, there is a significant increase in the risk of clinical mastitis post-calving. Heifer teat sealing is probab...

Understanding Dry Cow Reduction

Breaking down the jargon so we can easily reduce antibiotic usage on farm. A short history of abbreviations AMU = antimicrobial use (‘antibiotics’)DCAT = dry cow antimicrobial therapy (‘dry cow’)ITS = internal teat sealants (‘teat seal’) Vets love to abbreviate things. I think it makes us feel important — BVD, PD, KVC. But, to be fair, the dairy industry does exactly the same and probably worse — SCC, FEP, BW, PW…. So the combination is deadly, and over the past fe...

What needs to be done before dry off?

With the end of the season coming, we catch up with vet Joel to work out what you need to have dialled in before you can hang up the milking apron....

How are the youngstock weighing up?

Britt, our Weigh It Up lead shares what she has been seeing on farms lately, and shares the benefit of regular weighing. Calves are the future of every herd, achieving liveweight gains and maintaining monthly targets are essential. Focusing on this stage can help your animals become good milk producers and maximise lifetime productivity when they finally enter the milking shed. This is where Weigh It Up comes in; weighing monthly with Weigh It Up gives farmers the benefit of gathering all the in...

Salmonella season

With the start of Autumn, comes the start of another season for the risk of salmonellosis in cattle and your staff. Last year we saw several large outbreaks across Southland and the West Coast of Salmonella Typhimurium in dairy cows ranging from early January to late April. The outbreaks were estimated to cost between $15k - $130k in the form of cows that died, cows that were sick and required treatment, as well as loss of milk production. In addition, we have seen a few cases of abortion in fir...

Benefits of beef cattle pregnancy testing

Aged scanning in beef cattle allows you to better understand the needs of your herd. There are many advantages to age pregnancy testing your beef herd that can provide you with more information than standard wet/dry testing. Fetal aging is essential for understanding your herd’s reproduction performance and to make the right changes to improve results. ...

Getting optimum protection

Are your lambs fully, partially or not protected against clostridial disease? Every year we hear of lamb losses due to pulpy kidney. Some farmers have one, while others see a few each week - and it is always in their big lambs ready for the works! Such a shame to get them to this stage and for them to die in the paddock. Many lambs are vaccinated these days at tailing. This vaccine is the sensitiser and gets the body ready for an upcoming infection. But if that infection does not come and there ...

How to body condition score sheep

Why is it important? Body Condition Scoring (BCS) is a quick and easy management tool to increase productivity on your farm. Body Condition Scoring assesses the body fat of each animal, allowing you to compare ewes in your flock without worrying about breed, frame, gut fill and pregnancy. This means improved animal welfare and performance, increased conception rate, increased lamb weights, and more efficient use of feed. How to Condition Score To body condition score your flock, they should be p...