Heat Behaviour in Pregnant Cows
Written by Line Ferriman – Cowsmart During pregnancy testing, we often find cows that are pregnant but not to their most recent insemination. With the recent uptake of automated heat detection, more questions have been raised about this – why are pregnant cows being inseminated when we are using the most accurate heat detection currently […]
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Maximising On-farm Efficiency
Written by Amy Avery – Vetlife Temuka veterinarian When my 10-year-old finished watching BBC’s ‘Newsround’ last week, I asked him “what was in the news today?”. I was surprised, expecting to hear about the Gaza conflict, when he answered “oh, they were talking about NZ sheep and how they cause global warming”. Perhaps I should […]
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Lame Stags – is there a new condition affecting our industry?
Written by Andrew Bates – Vetlife Scientific This year has been tough for deer farmers, with uncertainties over continued access to overseas export markets, mixed pricing messages and an increasingly fragmented market. Vetlife recognises the challenges facing its farming clients and is committed to supporting animal agriculture in New Zealand for the long haul. Part […]
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Sheep Pain Relief Best Practice
While care is taken to avoid shearing nicks and cuts, it’s not possible to completely prevent them. Thankfully, you can ensure animals don’t suffer as much as a result. Modern pain relief and wound care can easily be incorporated into good flock management practices. There are several products available now that can help reduce inflammation […]
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Toxic Algae or Cyanobacterial Toxicosis
Algae is present in many of New Zealand’s lakes and rivers all year round, and is found across a range of water qualities (including high quality). In periods of warm weather and low water flow, toxic species of algae can outgrow non-toxic, species. Levels can change dramatically from one day to the next and aren’t […]
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Multimin – The Trace Element Treatment that Keeps on Giving
Multimin® is a unique combination of trace elements that has proven quite positively effective within multiple production parameters. The initial “top up” concept was initially viewed with scepticism by a number of veterinarians (including ourselves), but most of us have since been shown the error of our ways. While routine supplementation of animals is very effective […]
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Thinking Ahead
As dairy farmers are currently at peak calving, it may seem odd to write an article about planning for what is coming up in a few months’ time… mating. However, what is done correctly now can have a large impact on the success of the mating down the road. Everything is interconnected. This may sound […]
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Scabby Mouth: Prevention is Better than Cure
The old adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ rings very true when it comes to scabby mouth. Scabby mouth (or orf, contagious pustular dermatitis, contagious ecthyma) is a highly contagious poxvirus affecting sheep and goats, and it is also transmissible to humans and dogs. The virus can survive in the environment for over a year […]
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Mating: Focus on the Cycling Cow
For years, the approach to mating has been to apply heat detection aids sometime before mating starts, to monitor the heat activity and to then implement a strategy for anoestrus cows. This is a sound strategy which supports the good basic farming principles of calving cows early, optimising recovery and achieving high premating heat rates. […]
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Bull Semen Testing Under the Microscope
A critical component of cattle production is fertility as it is a driver of production cost and return on investment. Female fertility receives a large amount of attention, and it is enhanced by many different programmes, interventions and genetic selection. However, improving bull fertility is often largely ignored, despite it playing an important role in […]
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Caring for Your Pet Lamb
Caring for your pet lamb may seem simple, but there are a few things you need to aware of … It is absolutely vital that the lamb has at least one feed of colostrum (milk from a ewe lambed within the last 24hrs) in its first day of life. Without this colostrum, the lamb has […]
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The Value of the Vetlife Animal Health Report
Just how can an animal health report help with your on-farm spend? Inflation is currently running high in NZ and is apparently refusing to budge from a stubborn 7.5%. Yet recent Rabobank surveys suggest on-farm inflation is running higher and could be sitting around 14%. The main drivers of this would appear to be feed, fuel […]
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