Back to Blog

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...

Cervidae Oral: The new deer drench

Exciting news! Cervidae Oral, the new triple active drench for deer will be available from the 1st September 2021. With a 28 day withholding period, we now have a practical drench product for the venison industry. Although this long awaited drench is sure to decrease worm burdens and increase growth rates, we need to work together to ensure we reduce the risk of ostertagia resistance and therefore the effectiveness of the drench. Historic widespread use of single active mectin drench products, ...

Yersiniavax – is it still relevant after nearly 30 years on the market?

Yersinia is still the leading cause of death in fawns during autumn and winter. Yersinia bacteria are widespread and survive well in soil, water, and pasture. Carrier animals also shed these in faeces. Weaner deer are most at risk, and usually becoming infected at 4 - 8 months of age by eating or drinking faecally contaminated material. Disease is primarily related to age, stress, and exposure to bacteria. Important stressors include weaning, poor nutrition, sudden change in feed, mixing of deer...

Working dog pre-season checklist

So while we understand you are busy with spring on the farm, it's worthwhile making sure you have a plan for your working dogs' health this coming season. Your main workers benefit from a solid strategy covering parasites, vaccinations and nutrition. Attend to any current or pre-existing health condition now - eg lameness, osteoarthritis, skin disease, skin and mammary gland tumours, ear infections, broken or abscessed teeth. Review the status of the internal parasite control programme your dog...

3-week submission rates: 2020/21 stats

Do this quick calculation: Number of cows in your herd x 0.9 / 21 days = Target Number of Cows per Day. If you are not getting as many cows up per day as you should then call your KeyVet to discuss. It is challenging to achieve a 6 week in-calf rate target of 78% if you do not get enough cows up in the first 3 weeks. The average Submission rate for 304 dairy farms in our area was 79%. Below shows data from the 2020/21 season:...

Up or down?

The weather has treated us well this winter with higher temperatures and lower rainfall. So with more feed around and a better calving environment surely we should be seeing fewer down cows right? Unfortunately, on some farms, we are seeing the opposite effect! We’re hearing of more cows that are struggling to get up, despite magnesium and other mineral supplementation. The daily requirements of magnesium does not change, however, in a normal winter/early spring, we tend to have high rainfall...

Covid-19: What does Level 4 mean for vet clinics?

As you will be aware, the Covid-19 Alert Level has been raised to 4. Veterinary services are classified as an essential service, as previous, we will be partially restricted in how we operate. It is a legal requirement for both employee and customer to wear a face mask at business or service. Please take time to read the information below....

Pet preventative testing

When you take your pet to the veterinarian, whether it’s for a wellness check-up, or to diagnose or treat an issue, your veterinarian may suggest certain tests or procedures to ensure your pet is in optimal health. This type of testing is called Preventative Testing. Preventative testing helps to establish a baseline for your pet, which can be compared to future tests for changes. It also helps you catch issues earlier, before they become full-blown problems or even emergencies, helping your p...

Anti-inflammatory drugs

Our cattle are very good at hiding pain. Historically, as a herbivore on the grass plains, it was important to hide their injuries and pain from potential predators. In todays farming systems, this historic stoic behaviour has made it very difficult to identify these sick and injured individuals as they hide it so much better than we do, especially compared to someone with male flu!...

Canine Distemper in the south

A recent case in Southland diagnosed a puppy with the life-threatening disease – Canine Distemper. This disease was considered to have potentially been eradicated in New Zealand, due to diligence in vaccinating young dogs. Canine Distemper is a traumatic and life-threatening disease for our canines, which is transmitted from animal to animal (particularly mustelids such as stoats and ferrets). More importantly, it is completely preventable through vaccination. ...

Assisted calvings: 2020 stats

With spring on our doorstep, we are looking back at last season’s assisted calvings. Last spring VetSouth Winton assisted around 560 calvings. For 422 of these, we recorded information for further analysis and for 186 of these calved cows we had enough information (pregnancy scan results with access to Minda through Infovet) to be able to follow up on the outcome. On presentation: 18% of the calves were alive51% were fresh dead21% were dead and smelly10% were rotten and falling apart...