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Salmonella impacts: A case study

A 550-cow dairy farm experienced a Salmonella outbreak in early May 2024. Over the course of the outbreak, they had five cows die and 12 cows abort. They treated 20 cows with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory pain relief. During this period in late lactation, they also noted a 20% drop in milk in the vat. A rough estimation of how much this cost the farmer is outlined in the table below:...

Southern Salmonella update

This increase coincided with the wettest spring on record, and other factors such as changes in feed, waterlogged paddocks, cold weather, carrier cows and exceptional stress on cows (and farmers) all meaning some of these outbreaks were very severe. Interim data (see Figure 1 below) has shown there was almost 10x more cases of Salmonella in Southland in 2024 compared to the previous seven years! ...

Hind repro performance

Hinds on New Zealand deer farms normally reach puberty at around 16 months old. Hinds that have hit puberty by 16-months have a very good chance to conceive and calve at 24 months old.However, to be able to do this, R2 hinds have to be 70% of their adult body weight by their second autumn, regardless of their genetic composition. Failure to do so will delay puberty by at least a year.Keep in mind, if the average R2 hind weight across your herd is about 70% of their adult body weight, this ma...

Winning at weaning

Here are some tips for each stage:  Pre-weaning  Make high quality feed available early on to encourage calves to transition onto this while their mothers are still around. This will help rumen development and digestion of solid feed will be more efficient come weaning day. Additionally, if fed well early, skeletal and muscle development will be better, leading to an improved frame to build on later and fatten at the finishing stage.  Perform stressful procedures, such as disbuddi...

The boys are back in town

If you haven’t, as March rolls in it’s the last call to finalise all your pre-tupping procedures. Your rams should be vet checked, body condition scored and shorn. Check their teeth and feet as well, to make sure they’ll be able to withstand the mating period.This is also a reminder to give these lads their clostridial vaccine and any other vaccines or mineral boosters they require now. As sperm production in a ram takes 6-8 weeks, ideally rams would then be left alone for the next six wee...

Targeting trace elements

Vitamins and minerals have a big impact on the health of animals and their ability to perform to their best potential. Most farms will have a basic trace element supplementation plan for their stock, but is this working and are they the right ones?Key trace elements include copper, selenium, calcium, magnesium, iodine and vitamin B12 (cobalt). There are also other important ones such as zinc, manganese, chromium, and vitamin E. There are many methods of supplementation available. These rang...

Treating a lame cow

Secure the leg.  Clean the foot with a hose.  Feel between the claws and all around the foot. Look for trapped stones and cracks, and examine the skin above the hoof for infection or growths.  Use hoof testers along all areas of the sole to identify the problem claw and painful spot.  If a lesion is identified, ensure all under-running sole is removed by trimming with a hoof knife. Avoid bleeding as it will delay healing!   Transfer weight a...

Identifying lameness

New Zealand’s pasture-based dairy farming system, where cows graze in fields in all weather and walk fair distances along lanes to get to and from the milking shed, can increase the risk of lameness. We know farmers work hard to prevent and treat lameness, so we’ve put together a guide to help you determine what type of lame cases you might be seeing on your farm. ...

Worms more resistant

We completed nine reduction tests during the 2023-2024 season. All of the nine participating farms tested dual and triple drenches. Fewer farms tested single-acting and novel drenches. The graph below shows the overall results. ...

Reflecting on a Salmonella spring

With such bad weather leading to large amounts of dirty surface water, limited feed and increased stocking densities, overall infection pressure and stress was much higher than usual. This caused a many outbreaks. In sheep, there are two main forms of the disease: 1. Enteric form – caused by Salmonella Hindmarsh and S. Typhimurium: Mainly seen December-June.Cases mainly occur after a period of stress, such as yarding and transport. Signs to look out for are sudden death, sc...

Avoiding Yersiniosis

Yersiniosis is a highly infectious disease that is characterised by a green, watery scour which rapidly leads to death if untreated.  Recently weaned fawns in their first autumn are typical candidates, as the stress from weaning coupled with possible changes in feed, transport, parasite burdens and bad weather all create the ideal ‘perfect storm’ for this bacteria. Around weaning farmers should: Aim to reduce the effects of common stresses on fawns. Vaccinate twice w...

A recap of Johne's disease

It’s caused by a bacteria that damages the gut lining, leading to two main signs:  Watery “hose-pipe” diarrhoea.  Progressive weight loss.  Infection usually occurs in young calves. The bacteria then lies dormant in the cow for a number of years, with these clinical signs often not apparent until they are at least 3-4 years old. These later-staged diseased cows shed the most bacteria leading to a higher risk of transmission. Regular testing for Johne’s ...

Preparing for hot summer days

Keeping stock happy, healthy and productive in summer heat requires good preparation, here are some of our tips: ...

Are your boys up to the job?

We don’t need to tell you how tough this year has been! The season’s constant fight against some pretty terrible weather has taken its toll on farmers and stock alike. Now that we are finally starting to get a glimpse of the elusive Big Yellow, it’s time to start looking ahead to lamb finishing and next season’s tupping. With this in mind, let’s get your vet on-farm to get their yearly ram action!  The reason we insist on performing this annual ritual is to ensure your m...

Working dogs in summer

The summer brings some heavy workloads on farms and high energy requirements for farm working dogs. Feed them a high fat, high protein diet to reduce musculoskeletal injuries and increase endurance. Burning all that energy creates increased body heat which becomes more difficult for them to regulate in hot weather. They only have a few sweat glands, in the pads and nose, and depend on evaporative cooling of exhaled moist air, panting, and air movements over the body surface. All of these in...

Scanning season swiftly approaching

In cows, the best time to age a pregnancy accurately is between 42 and 90 days after mating. For this reason, we usually recommend two scanning sessions:A first scan in January to age the earlies and heifers.A second re-check scan a while later to confirm the empties and age the lates. Early age scans are used to figure out accurate calving dates and help you make informed decisions for your herd.If you have used a synchrony hormone programme for your heifers, an early age scan 6 weeks afte...

Weighing it up across the south

Weighing allows you to be more accurate with weaning and drenching, plus it helps you better understand how your animals are tracking at crucial stages of their development.Replacement calves are the future of every herd. Getting weaning weights right will give them the best chance post-weaning. Focusing on targets during this part of their life can help your animals grow well and become good milk producers, maximising lifetime productivity when they enter the milking shed.Most dairy farms aren�...

Udder basics

With the bad weather this spring, the lambing season has been particularly hard in many aspects; including farmers experiencing more cases of mastitis than usual.  Mastitis occurs as bacteria enter the udder resulting in an infection causing swelling and inflammation. Uddering ewes to pick up mastitis should be done by gently squeezing both sides of the udder while the ewe is in the race, feeling for generalised hardness or lumps of one or both quarters. Lumps in front and behind the u...

Grazing new grass paddocks

New grass paddocks offer great feed quality and low parasite burden – a recipe for great lamb growth! However, they also have the potential to make any drench resistance really bad, because if you drench onto this pasture and worms survive, you will end up with a parasite population that is 100% resistant! Refugia is essential on new grass paddocks. We MUST put some parasites on here that have not been exposed to drench, but, we also need to benefit from this low challenge area....

Watch out for flystrike this season!

Warm and wet weather provides the perfect conditions for blowflies - and we've had a lot of rain!  Early protection not only protects your flock, but also gives you peace of mind over the holiday season. Managing your risk will help your lambs thrive, and your ewes recover from a tough spring. Looking at the next couple of months, it is important to closely monitor your stock so you can take action before you have a problem. When deciding on the best prevention treatment for your ...

A tail to tell? Tail scoring study results

The problem is, even though docking has been banned since 2005, damaged tails - where the damage breaks the connections between the vertebrae - are now one of the most common cattle welfare-related issues brought before New Zealand courts (R. Laven, personal communication).There are varying degrees of damage, some of which may be caused by sheds or milking apparatus (cup removers) and some which may be caused by people.Sometimes, the tail bones are actually broken, sometimes dislocated, or somet...

Signs your horse may have gastric ulcers

Gastric ulcers have become more widely recognised in performance horses, as well as in racehorses, in the last 10 - 15 years. Previously, horses with ulcers were expected to look run down, perhaps ‘tucked up’, skinny and/or with a poor coat. They could be grumpy/unhappy and also picky with their feed – sometimes even completely ‘off’ their hard feed and preferring to eat fibre. Recent research shows, however, that many horses with ulcers may not display these signs and instea...

Preventing lameness

As we all know, lame cows are time-draining, costly and a welfare issue. So what measures can be put in place to try and prevent a high number of lameness cases?...

Observing cow health with tech

Spring is the period of biggest change for cows, so we see more health alerts corresponding with changes in rumination and activity. These alerts can be due to many different disease processes, such as metabolic disease (milk fever, ketosis etc.), mastitis, metritis – the list goes on.One example of a more serious disease process was recently seen by vets Dan and Penny.  The cow had a history of recurrent health alerts corresponding with drops in rumination post-calving and had been ...

Surge in Salmonella

Salmonella in cattle is not usually common. In a typical season, we may only see one or two significant outbreaks and you might get the odd individual case. A farm might only have a case once in 20 years. Because of this, many stock are unvaccinated against the disease....