We're loyal, not just local.

Spring & Calving News

General Calving Statistics

What an amazing August we had for dry weather. While this has certainly minimised some problems, here are some of the issues we have been dealing with:

- Milk fever: This is a perennial issue for some, but new for others. We are seeing some trends e.g. high grass intakes, incorrect Magnesium amounts and products, short springer time, poor daily springer/colostrums’ feed management. Talk to us about some possible options, now is the time to try some of them. Or plan on some changes that may work for next season, as many of you are well through calving.
- RFM numbers: Aiming at or below 2% would be ideal.
- Poor calf FPT (colostrum) intakes.
- Large oversized calves in heifers, often breed-choice associated.
- Heifers with fractured front legs. The research work is ongoing here, call us to talk this through.

New Intensive Winter Grazing Rules

These seem to have come thick and fast in the last 6 - 12 months. In 2019, the ministerial Winter Grazing Taskforce issued a report containing 7 events which should ‘always’ or ‘never’ occur in paddock wintering systems. Below are seven outcomes farmers must be aiming to achieve, no matter what the wintering system is:

1. We ensure our animals give birth in the right environment.

2. We are prepared for all weather conditions.

3. Our animals can easily access acceptable drinking water.

4. We plan for successful winter feeding.

5. Our animals can lie down comfortably.

6. We work together to provide care to our animals during winter.

7. We find opportunities to improve.

Farmers are being strongly advised to develop an animal winter grazing management welfare plan. Examples of this would include planning for possible inclement weather & shelter options, drinking water supply, pregnancy test planning, staff training around the grazing logistics, paddock selection allowing for lying areas for cattle.

Some of this planning is critical now and we are happy to advise if needed, we also have a planning template available.

Calf Rearer of the Year Awards

Nominate yourself or your calf rearer for this season’s NCVC Calf Rearer of the Year!

Submit nomination forms by 14th Sept. to Kim. Email is best but can be dropped off too.

Judging will take place on 22nd and 23rd September.

The awards will be presented at our annual Calf Rearing Awards celebration - date to be determined. This is run annually and always is a great way to recognise calf rearers and all of their hard work and dedication.

If the link below won't work for you please contact us for a copy.

Calf Scour Outbreaks

Currently, we have 13 farms diagnosed with infectious scours. These are predominantly Rotavirus but some with Cryptosporidia and Salmonella. Some queries could be:

- Has the farm had infectious scours in previous seasons?
- Has the farm had FPT calf blood testing done this season?
- Has any gold colostrum been tested to measure antibody levels (using BRIX refractometer)?
- Are calves fed 1x or 2x a day?
- Are new calves picked up 1x, 2x or 3x daily from calving paddock?

Please contact us if you’re needing help. We have an in-house scours test kit that can give you results in 10 minutes.

Planning for Mating

Some simple preliminary plans could include:

- Heifer mating options (AB or Bulls?) and if away on grazing block, consider BVD vaccine protection. Weighing using MINDA weights?
- Bull number calculations and ordering. Ensure BVD vaccinated & blood tested negative.
- Tail painting dates.
- Non-cycler assessment dates.
- Pull out your old Fertility focus report from MINDA from last season to highlight some areas you may want to focus on this year.

We will be in touch over the next month to talk you through Repro plans going forward. Do call us if you have particular queries in the interim.

Mastitis Trends for Early Season

Our District Client Average BTSCC for the current season to date = 153,000 (ranging from 57,000 to 375,000 and with 13 BMSCC grades for the district this year).

Mastitis cultures: We have been busy checking 4th day colostrums that are failing their RMT test/or difficult mastitis cases. We are tending to see mostly:
        - Strep Uberis growths: generally penicillin 1st line treatment.
        - The occasional Staph aureus (Good to identify these early in the season and stop the spread as they are highly contagious).
        - E.coli: very damaging to the cow/udder. Need immediate treatment in many instances to save quarter/cow.

These tests are done in 24-48 hours, so rapid turnaround of information. Get those samples in and keep that Vat BTSCC under control this spring.

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

From the Vet and Tech Team - Trish, Alistair, Rob, Ian, Keira, Mara, Sarah W, Alana, Ingrid, Sam, Justin, Julia, Nathan, Brooke, Sarah McP, Hanna, Jamie and Ben.

We're loyal, not just local.

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