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Batman returns?

When Vet Sunni's Yak went down with non-responsive Milk Fever-like signs, what was the diagnosis? Most people who know me know I like to acquire animals. One of my most beloved acquisitions is my Yak cross, Batman. He was conceived from a trial carried out by LIC 15 years ago where they were looking at ways to reduce the number of inductions. By using Yak semen, cows could calve up to 3 weeks early. It sounded great in theory however with conception rates at 30% it wasn’t a feasible option. I ...

Farmer Testimonial: Calpro Bolus

Sharn Roskam, a local dairy farmer in Southland caught up with her KeyVet Femke to discuss the benefits of using Calpro Bolus over the calving period....

How are your calves performing?

The 2020 calving season saw 17 farms enrolled on the WelCalf program across the East and West. Calving started with a hiss and a roar, with plenty of calves on the ground in late July. This was well before most people’s planned start of calving, but thankfully the weather in August was mostly kind which has hopefully given calves a good start. The WelCalf team were kept busy; visiting each enrolled farm twice (once in early August and again in early September) and collecting blood samples from...

Tech Talk: Calving shed 101

Senior Vet Tech Tiarna has a handy checklist for getting your calving sheds ready. We all know this time creeps around quicker and quicker each year and although we feel like the cows have only just been dried off it’s time to start thinking about those calf sheds and how to make them the most comfortable and hygienic for your future replacements....

Tech Talk: Disbudding and blood testing

Calving season is a busy time of year for both farmers and vets. Alongside calving, comes calf disbudding too and luckily we have a large team of technicians to assist the vets during this busy time. Our standard disbudding involves: Sedating the calf with Xylazine (general anesthetic),Using local nerve blocks (local anesthetic) and an antibiotic spray on the site after. We also offer more pain relief options for recovery such as Tri-Solfen and Metacam. We can disbud calves between 2-6 weeks of...

Dealing with Canine Cough

Vaccination is key for canine cough, and easy if you sign-up for our Working Dog Run this winter. Let's talk about whooping cough. It is not pleasant for anyone involved – those infected as well as those kept up at night by the infected individual. Whooping cough is caused by a strain of bacteria in the Bordetella family. Bordetella is also the most common bacterial cause of canine cough, although the infective strain for humans and dogs is different so there is no cross infection. Canine coug...

How to get ewes ready for lambing?

Many of these things are, at this stage, just requiring some thought and planning. So here is a list of things to ponder while you are shifting breaks, or keeping warm in the tractor feeding out: Scanning – are you booked in? Have you factored in a family trip away during the school holidays? Or if you don’t have school kids, planning your trip DURING the school term!Scanning provides a brilliant opportunity to Condition Score your ewes. Finding and drafting out any bony ewes at this time wi...

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...