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Winter Body Condition Scoring

We have been busy with mid-winter and now some pre-calving Body Condition Scoring.

The general trends we have seen are:
- By Mid Winter average scores were around 4.5 BCS but ranged from 4.2-4.8
- Early calvers tended to be lower than later calvers by approx. 0.2 BCS. Lesson here is to dry these off earlier, don’t be tempted to milk longer to get the Milk solids, it will just mean they will milk less the next season and be slower to get in calf.
- Feed type: Didn’t appear to be any significant difference if fed Fodderbeet or kales/rapes. Note: Good weather has improved all feeds utilisation this winter.

Calf rearing seminar

Thank you to all those that attended the Biennial calf rearing seminar. It was great to see so many people there eager to learn and looking forward to calving. 

Spring Staff Training Sessions

We will be running our annual 'Spring Skills Calving' staff training sessions at our Culverden clinic on Wednesday July 17th. This is split into 2 sessions to accommodate your staffing numbers.
- Session 1 from 9.00am - 12.00pm
- Session 2 from 1.00pm - 4.00pm
This is always very popular and staff often comment on how informative and helpful it is. Come along!

We will be covering all important areas such as assisting calvings, retained membrane treatments, down cows, metabolic treatments, problem mastitis cases, different spring drug use and more.

Please call the clinic to register 03 315 8363 or email Kim (kim@ncvets.co.nz)

Abortions

This winter we have seen some unusual abortions. If you are seeing more than 2-4 cows aborting over a short period of time, you need to call us. Some examples have been:

•  Fungal abortions from mouldy or poor quality silage.
•  Salmonella Brandenburg - can protect with vaccination. Can cause significant illness and losses in the cows as well. Watch personal hygiene as can cause significant sickness in people.
•  Nitrate poisoning - this has been shown to cause abortions but not necessarily deaths of the cow. Check pastures as well as crops especially when pastures are young and still growing well.
•  Neospora abortions - no treatment possible but can recur between seasons so diagnosis is important for management reasons or possible culling.

Spring supplies order form

Please see link below to our Spring Supplies form. If you are wanting to get organised for spring, avoid forgetting something important, and save time by having your order arranged and packed for you.

Just email the list back to Kim or Kirsten, and they’ll get onto it for you kim@ncvets.co.nz or kirsten@ncvets.co.nz

Springer feeding and Sampling your feeds 

Milk Fever a problem last season? Some ideas to think about:

•  Look at your Springers diet. Look at sampling your Springer pasture and silages and know exactly what you’re feeding them.
•   Will you calve heifers and cows together? How will you tailor their diets differently?
•   Will you use minerals through your in-shed system or in troughs or in silages?
•   Do you have a Down cow treatment plan so everyone on farm knows how they should be treated in what time frames?

Please call us because every farm is different with their Metabolic disease issues. There is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. Down cows can be a huge stress around calving time and PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN MASS TREATMENTS!

Spring Locum staff

We have our two trusty locums returning to help out this calving season in early August; Lewis Hodgson and Samara Johnstone. Most of you will know both Lewis and Samara and know they were great Vets with good practical experience under their belts. Welcome them back when you see them and here’s hoping we have a healthy and stress-free calving season for all!

As always, any queries just keep in touch with us.

From the Vet and Tech Team - Trish, Alistair, John, Rob, Ian, Keira, Mara, Sarah W, Alana, Sam, Ingrid, Justin, Catherine, Sarah McP, Martina, Jamie.

We're loyal, not just local.

www.ncvets.co.nz | enquiries@ncvets.co.nz