In this edition:

• Downer cows need prompt attention and assessment
• Farmer pleading guilty to animal cruelty receives $10,000 fine
• Avian influenza community information sessions
• Your pet, our pest
• Check out our free hay calculator
• Dry seasons support
• Dry seasons webinar recordings
• Free financial counselling
• BestWool/BestLamb and BetterBeef conference recordings
• Balancing dingo conservation and management
• Worms – what’s the spring risk?
• Have you signed up for Newsflash?
• In case you missed it
• What's on

Dr Jeff Cave, Agriculture Victoria Senior Veterinary Officer

Being the spring calving season, you may find a downer cow in your herd. There are several potential causes of this, and the correct diagnosis and treatment could help save your cow, time and money.

Physical injuries
Calving paralysis is usually, but not always associated with heifers and a difficult calving. During calving a cow’s nerve, known as the obturator nerve, may be crushed between her pelvis and the calf.

A cow with calving paralysis will appear bright and alert but have no control over one or both hind legs. The only treatment is time and careful nursing; anti-inflammatory drugs are useful if used early.

Calving paralysis needs to be distinguished from injuries such as dislocated hips and back injuries. Such injuries can occur in any aged animal often after an accident such as slipping.

A cow with these injuries will also be bright and alert and usually eat and drink normally. A veterinarian should be called to assess these animals.

Metabolic diseases
Metabolic diseases can be distinguished from physical injuries by the presence of other clinical signs. Milk fever is seen in older, high producing, fatter cows. A cow with milk fever will show fine muscle tremors, staggering and weakness.

Grass tetany is seen during times of stress such as bad weather on short grass dominated pastures. An affected cow will become aggressive, excited, go down and paddle and convulse violently. Both milk fever and grass tetany should be treated urgently with 4 in 1.

Pregnancy toxaemia or acetonemia is an energy deficiency problem seen in cows losing weight or calving in poor condition. Behavioural signs will be seen before the cow goes down. Cases may indicate a dietary deficiency being experienced by the whole herd.

Toxaemia (blood poisoning)
Mastitis, metritis or any other generalised infection causes toxaemia or blood poisoning. A cow with toxaemia will appear depressed, with a dry nose and sunken eyes.

It is important to check the udders of downer cows for mastitis, and the uterus for tears or severe infections.

Care of the downer cow
Prompt treatment with appropriate veterinary drugs and good care are key to successfully treating a downer cow. The first step is to determine why the cow is down and to treat appropriately.

Cows should only be nursed if they have a realistic chance of recovery. Otherwise, they should be humanely destroyed.

When nursing a downer cow move her to dry sheltered shed and provide her with comfortable, dry, soft bedding on a non-slip surface. Sit her on her chest, position her correctly, and roll her from side to side at least two times a day. Provide her feed and water.

Use hip clamps only for a few minutes to get her on her feet.

For further advice please contact your local veterinarian or Agriculture Victoria veterinary or animal health officer, or in NSW your Local Land Services.

Goulburn Broken farmer, Mr Peter Sandles, recently pleaded guilty to animal cruelty, at the Shepparton Magistrates Court and was fined $10,000 with conviction.

The accused pleaded guilty to 3 aggravated cruelty charges and 1 failure to provide veterinarian or other appropriate attention or treatment under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 (POCTA).

The court also ordered the accused be subject to monitoring for a period of 5 years to ensure all cattle under Mr Sandles ownership and care receive proper and sufficient supervision and drink.

In April 2023 Agriculture Victoria officers attended the property at Invergordon, to follow up an animal welfare report.

Agriculture Victoria officers observed empty water troughs and approximately 47 cattle in poor body condition and dehydrated.

Twenty cattle had recently died and 7 were humanely euthanised by the officers.

There was also a deceased cow with a horn penetrating the temporal and frontal lobe.

The Magistrate commented how this case was gut-wrenching, and animals are living creatures that feel emotions and experience distress.

Agriculture Victoria Acting Compliance Manager Penny Lucas said the weight of the fine with conviction sends a very clear message to livestock producers that animal cruelty will not be tolerated by the Victorian Government or our community.

‘Apart from the obvious pain and suffering of the animals, animal welfare breaches can jeopardise Victoria’s reputation as a humane and responsible producer of food, which can, in turn, affect all producers.’

Anyone wishing to make a specific complaint regarding livestock welfare can contact Agriculture Victoria on 136 186 or aw.complaint@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Agriculture Victoria continues to reach out to local communities at our pop-up information stalls. 

• Friday 27 September: Colour Terang Festival, 9:30 am – 3 pm
• Saturday 5 October: Golden Plains Farmers’ Market, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm
• Saturday 5 October: Terang Local Market, 9 am – 1 pm.

To learn more, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/avianinfluenza

The ‘Your Pet, Our Pest’, campaign urges illegal exotic pet owners to surrender them now — no questions asked — at one of 4 new surrender locations.

Discovering the harsh realities of the illegal exotic animal trade - it endangers public health, wildlife, and the farming community.

Click here for more information and surrender locations.

Heard about our hay versus grains calculator?

This tool calculates the gross margin of grain and hay production in dollars per hectare. It helps with deciding whether a crop should be left for harvest or cut for hay.

Just click on this link 

Then fill in the white boxes – the grey boxes will automatically calculate it for you. Talk about easy!

Have you updated your plan for the current seasonal conditions?

Having a solid drought plan can help you with decision making in adverse conditions. 

Check out the dry seasons and drought support on the Agriculture Victoria website today.

The recording of the recent webinar ‘Growing more feed’ with Agriculture Victoria Livestock Extension Officer Fiona Baker - can be found HERE

Additionally, here are some resources that you might find useful:

• Feeding livestock website
• Agriculture Victoria dry season and drought support page 
• Soil Moisture monitoring sites can be found HERE
• Information on navigating farm developments online tool can be found HERE 
• A MLA guide to managing breeding ewes in containment can be found HERE
• Stock containment areas design webinar can be found HERE.

The Rural Financial Counselling Service provides a free and confidential financial counselling service to eligible farmers and small related enterprises who are experiencing, or at risk of, financial hardship.

They can help you to access available support, analyse your business situation, negotiate with lenders and develop strategies to improve your financial position. 

To find your closest service visit the website or call 1300 771 741.

Did you miss the BestWool/BestLamb and BetterBeef conferences or feel like revisiting the sessions?

Recorded presentations are now available for viewing on our website.

Watch Cam Nicholson’s talk on ‘The challenge of aligning pasture and animal needs’ here

Cam said it’s a challenge because while we know what the animals need and we can know all the theory about how to grow the best plants and the right way of doing it, there’s numerous times when those two don’t align.

Watch John Francis’s talk on ‘Growing the farm' here

John talks about opportunities for growth that exist ‘within the four fences’ of your farm.

Explore more from the BestWool/BestLamb conference here and the BetterBeef conference presentations here

Farmers can access support and assistance today to help manage the current dry seasonal conditions at agriculture.vic.gov.au

The Victorian Government is setting out the future of dingo conservation and management in Victoria and supporting farmers with an additional $2 million investment into non-lethal dingo controls and population research.

Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos and Minister for Agriculture Ros Spence recently announced the continuation of the dingo unprotection order in north east and eastern Victoria, which permits the control of dingoes on private land and along the boundaries of public land until 1 January 2028.

Dingoes will continue to be protected in the north west of the state where the dingo population is critically low. Lethal controls will not be permitted on private or public land in the north west. There is little evidence that dingoes are present in large numbers in these parts of the state.

To support farmers to protect their livestock the government is investing more than $2 million to undertake dingo monitoring and support for north west farmers to adopting non-lethal dingo management strategies.

The new support package will fund trials, research and on-ground advice on non-lethal dingo management strategies that minimise the risk of livestock predation in the north west – building on the work already underway as part of the $550,000 North West Vertebrate Pest Management program announced in March this year.

The Wild Dog Management Program will be expanded to include extra supports for farmers through targeted controls of a wider range of vertebrates including deer, foxes, pigs and wild cats and to reflect this expansion, will be renamed the Vertebrate Species Management Program.

The wild dog component of the Victorian Fox and Wild Dog Bounty program will cease, with the final opportunity to submit wild dog parts at Maffra on 16 October 2024. The bounty for foxes will increase from $10 to $14 per scalp until 30 June 2025.

The remaking of the new dingo unprotection order follows a review of dingo conservation and management with feedback from Traditional Owners, farmers and landholders alongside scientific research.

For more details about the order visit wildlife.vic.gov.au and for farmers support visit agriculture.vic.gov.au.

The reduced pasture heights for much of Victoria are increasing the susceptibility of sheep (and cattle) to internal parasites.

Grazing below a pasture height of 4cm will increase the ingestion of infective larvae.

While most egg contamination occurs in the summer-autumn period, up to 40% can come from eggs deposited during late spring and early summer.

Typically, in spring there is an abundance of quality pasture which allows your sheep to cope with the worms they have.

However, given the challenging season this may not be the case.

Farmers who are early weaning due to low feed availability need to prioritise worm control as weaners are the most susceptible livestock class to internal parasites.

Livestock that are in poorer condition and potentially on restricted nutrition can have a reduced resistance and resilience to internal parasites.

It’s crucial to assess worm burdens during high-risk conditions, which in the current seasonal conditions could include lighter stock grazing shorter and highly contaminated pastures.

It’s also important to have worm-free paddocks set up for weaners. Ideally, paddocks that weaners are put into will have only been grazed by sheep who received an effective summer drench.

The best paddocks to put weaners into may be ones that have been hay paddocks, are new pastures or paddocks that have been grazed by mature cattle.

Sheep that are infected with worms may show signs of scours, weight loss or event death. It is essential to monitor worm burdens using Wormtest 4-6 weeks after the weaning and treat based on results.

Summer drenching is the key to minimising this worm carryover into next year - by making sure there are few worms in your sheep getting a free ride to autumn.

Management of internal parasites is essential for animal production and welfare, especially during high-risk times when stock are in light condition.

Seek advice from your animal health professional such as a veterinarian or consultant to assist with developing a worm management strategy.

For more information about managing in dry seasonal conditions visit agriculture.vic.gov.au or call 136 186.

References: wormboss.com.au

Livestock producers, have you subscribed to the BestWool/BestLamb and BetterBeef Newsflash? 

Newsflash is our monthly email newsletter produced by our BetterBeef  and BestWool/BestLamb network team. 

Newsflash contains:  

• beef and sheep news 
• technical articles 
• upcoming events 
• BestWool/BestLamb and BetterBeef Network profiles 
• government and industry information. 

Subscribe to the BestWool/BestLamb and BetterBeef Newsflash here.

Farmer pleading guilty to animal cruelty receives $8,000 fine

A west Gippsland farmer, Mr Barry Hillbrick, recently pleaded guilty to aggravated cruelty and a failure to fulfil a Notice to Comply, in the Latrobe Magistrates Court and was fined $8,000 with conviction.

Read the media release here.

West Wimmera farmer gets $10,000 with conviction for cruelty to livestock

A west Wimmera farmer recently pleaded guilty in the Horsham Magistrates Court and was fined $10,000 with conviction.

Read the media release in full here.

Details about Agriculture Victoria events can now be found in one spot on our website.

Visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/events to find out what's on.

The Farm Business Program is supporting farmers to develop the knowledge and skills they need to improve their farm business and be better equipped to manage the impacts of drought and a changing climate.

Course details:

• Monday 30 September, 11 am to 2 pm - People success 
• Monday 14 October, 12 to 2 pm - Plan review. 

Location:  Register online today.

Visit the Agriculture Victoria website for all the program details.

Wimmera Faba Bean Discussion Group Meeting - Douglas, Bungalally and Woorak

Douglas 8 October 8-10 am

Bungalally 8 October 4-6 pm

Woorak 9 October 8-10 am

Register on SurveyMonkey here or contact Pru Cook on 0438 923 258.

Agriculture Victoria invite beef producers to a free webinar about bull selection and soundness.

When: 9 October, 12:30 – 1:30 pm

Where: Online

Fertility is a significant driver of profitability in beef breeding enterprises so join Dr. Craig Wood, pervious president of the Australian Cattle Veterinarians to learn more.

Dr Wood has over 20 years’ experience in large animal veterinary medicine and works with many leading beef studs. The webinar will cover general bull management and describe what a veterinary bull soundness examination involves and discuss the benefits.

Register here

Agriculture Victoria has engaged National Centre for Farmer Health to deliver ‘Calm the Farm’ in Casterton.

Join us for a free interactive and engaging 2-hour workshop that explores ways of reducing work related stress.

Connect with other local farmers as you focus on practical solutions to improve job satisfaction and effectiveness for you and your team.

15 October, 10 am – 12 pm

Albion Hotel, 25 Henty Street, Casterton

Continue the conversation over a meal – on us.

Key focus areas

• understand the main work-related risk factors for farmers’ mental health
• explore how these may be impacting you and your farm business
• develop your own plan to stay on track.

Register here

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