Calving is almost over! Mating is around the corner, so the tailpaint should be on!

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1 West coast vets Ltd Dairy newsletter OCTOber 2016 Calving is almost over! Mating is around the corner, so the tailpaint should be on! In Greymouth they have had one of the busier calving seasons in recent memory with the team attending well over 100 calving related visits something of a surprise given the doom and gloom which kicked the season off. In Hokitika things were a bit quieter, with around 90 call outs. It has been great to see increased usage of anti-inflammatories in cattle and calves, and uptake of covexin 10 clostridial protection for replacements. They will be much better off for it. Great to see grass covers lifting, but it is noticeable the amount of conserved feed that is still being fed out in late September. Maybe a better fit to pasture supply needs to be looked at with calving start dates? Thanks to the farmers who have agreed to have their herd inspected for Bovine digital dermatitis. To date Aaron Yang has not found any evidence of it on the Coast which is great news. Happy mating The team at West Coast Vets Things to do this month COWS Tailpaint herd How is mastitis tracking? Need any help? Metricheck cows Treat at risk cows Trace elements up to date? Book in bloods and liver biopsies Magnesium supplementation continuing Eprinex treatment Updated MINDA with calving and health events? YEARLINGS Spring worming treatment definitely recommended BVD booster Copper and Selenium levels okay? Multimin premating to maximise conception Check on condition. Maintain feed supply at a high level, so they re on a rising plane Fluke drench done? AI tech booked? Synchrony dates sorted CALVES Not too crowded in pens Debudded Covexin 10n1 Maintain shed and utensil hygiene at a high level (VETSAN super concentrate is ideal for this). Multimin at weaning to reduce weaning check Coccidiosis treatment BayCox BULLS Bloodtested for BVD and vaccinated Bull-testing Veterinarians: Greymouth: Hokitika: Support Staff: Greymouth: Hokitika: YOUR PARTNERS IN ANIMAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL ADVICE, SERVICE AND PRODUCTS Amber Bone * Laurence Cohen * Gary Dew * Megan Hero * Vanessa Love * Ciara Martin * Marjan Sprock Tom Crawshaw * Nicola Harris * Simon Hewitt * Mairi McLaughlin * Lynda Murphy * Ariane Pritchard * Troy Styles Amanda Hopkins * Harold Lee * Alicia Mitchell * Leanne Tucker * Maria van der Geest Jess Burwell * Tara Hewitt * Alisha Langford * Seiko Messenger * Terri Skeats

2 Metricheck early Dirty cows not treated are a missed opportunity Endometritis is an infection of the lining of the uterus often referred to as dirty cows. Any cow which has an infection in her uterus will suffer a delay in resumption of cycling activity (one cause of non-cycling cows). If infection is still present at the time of insemination then this will greatly reduce the chances of the cow conceiving. The longer the infection is present the greater the chances of uterine scarring and further reducing fertility. On average we find anywhere from 5-15 % dirty cows in a herd most of them don t have a visible discharge. A recent North Island study of 15,000 cows on the effects of early versus late treatment found when cows were metrichecked at about 18 days after calving, 17-18% dirty cows were found. When they were checked around day 42 the amount of dirty cows had decreased to 6%. The easy conclusion would be that they had self-cured. BUT: self-cure cows had significantly worse reproductive outcomes than cows that were cured by treatment. On average self-cured cows conceived 8 days later and had a 7.4% lower 6WICR. In other words cows do not truly self-cure but instead become unable to be diagnosed by metricheck. Our advice: check your cows early. treat them early, get them in calf earlier! Obviously there is an extra cost associated with this approach (more farm visits, metrichecking and treatments at roughly $7.50 per cow on a herd basis) but the estimated return was $26 - $33 per cow, representing a times return on investment.

3 Help Maximise Your Profits at Weaning When a calf is born it has the highest amounts of trace elements that it is ever going to have in its body. From the time it is standing, its trace elements are being used up in a diverse number of metabolic pathways for growth and health, and though it will pick some from milk and later from pasture it will never regain the original high levels it was born with. Oral trace element supplementation is one way to supply animals with their essential elements, the only downside is that it can be hard to quantify how much the animal is actually absorbing and utilizing. Many trace elements will pass through the gut unabsorbed; they can also be bound and captured by other molecules in the rumen which prevents them from entering the bloodstream. The gold standard is to individually dose each animal by injection, ensuring that we know the exact amount each animal is getting and we can be certain that animal will absorb all of what we have given it. Multimin is an injectable product containing zinc, manganese, selenium and copper. This gives your animals a boost in their main basic mineral requirements, which are needed for optimal growth rates and fertility. We strongly recommend you use it at weaning when calves are going though the most physiologically stressful period of their lives. The cost is only 61c/calf ex GST and there is plethora of research to support its usage. BVD Most of our clients are well aware of issues that can arise with BVD infection. Over the years, we have seen calves or heifers with clinical signs of BVD, which can vary from simple not growing well to very sick animals that whatever we do die anyway! But whatever your BVD status is on farm, you want to prevent the virus causing havoc, and the main one is ensuring NO persistently infected (PI) calves are born. Rising 2 year olds that reach their first mating should be protected by vaccination so the risk of them carrying a PI calf is negligible. This is a no-brainer for animals away at grazing Bulls that are going to be used during this mating season must be test negative for BVD virus this only has be done once in their lifetime. A PI bull will cause heaps of problems by infecting more cows than ever anticipated! To prevent trouble: test and vaccinate all bulls used during mating season. If you want to sign up for BVD testing on farm or need farm specific advice, give the clinic a call!!

4 Psst! Greymouth goss. The Greymouth girls hit the town on a recent Saturday night for Megan s hens do - they ve clammed up as to what went down, but all reported on deck Monday morning, some of them a little bit worse for wear judging by the number of coffees that were made in the first half of the working day!! Hokitika digital X-ray upgrade The Hokitika clinic recently upgraded to a digital X-ray processing unit. The improvement in the quality of the images we obtain is light and day compared the older films, with the ability to zoom in and out, crop views, measure dimensions etc, not to mention the fact that we no longer have to handle and dispose of the nasty development chemicals. A big positive from a Health and safety perspective. X-rays can also be easily ed if required for referrals. Richards corner. Deosan has recently launched Triodex, an advanced Iodine Teat Sanitiser. Triodex has a ph of 4.3, competitor teatsprays have a much lower ph, meaning they re more irritant. Triodex uses a unique PVP Iodine formulation. Triodex has 3 key benefits: A) Low irritant formulation to aid teat skin health B) High levels of glycerine to improve teat condition C) Simple mixing rates with no additional emollient required. Other Triodex benefits include: Fast penetration speed and a unique PVP Iodine formulation. Please call Richard for more info. Richard also has a complete range of detergents for the cowshed Richard can be contacted on or richardw@westcoastvets.co.nz

5 Coccidiosis in calves Coccidia are a single celled parasite that can have a debilitating effect on young calves. Once infected, coccidia survive in the colon (large bowel) of their hosts, destroying the gut lining, causing loss of fluid leading to bloody diarrhea, anaemia and dehydration. Coccidia can survive for up to two years in moist, colder conditions, and this unfortunately can mean survival in calf pens and designated calf paddocks and areas. Vetsan and Virkon don t kill coccidia, making preventative treatment all the more important particularly if your farm has a history of coccidial disease. Many commercially available calf meals contain coccidiostats, however these are only effective if consumed at high enough levels (approximately 1kg meal/day), which many calves don t achieve. This should still be available up until weaning and for a further 28 days on farms that have had previous problems. Baycox C is the best way to actively treat/prevent an outbreak via a single oral dose 3 weeks after being on pasture. Other methods to reduce the likelihood of coccidiosis (and other pathogens causing disease) include: Rotational grazing at appropriate stocking rates to prevent pasture build up of oocysts. Isolation of infected calves. Treating all animals in groups including those not yet showing signs. Avoiding faecal contamination of feed troughs. Minimising stressors. The prognosis can be poor for severe cases; however, with prompt treatment most animals should survive. Preferential feeding may be needed to achieve target growth rates, although some animals may still not be able to achieve these due to lasting damage to the gut. Harold says Quality anthelmintics for the adult dairy cow We have plenty of options if you re looking for a quality drench to get the herd in tip-top shape in the run up to mating Ivomec Eprinex pouron 5 ltr 450 kg Reflex pouron Genesis Pouron 5.5ltr from $ kg $ Plus with Merial Ancare products receive a 5.5L sunbeam slow cooker All prices GST Exclusive

6 Mating is around the corner Heifer Synchrony options Early calving heifers become early calving three year olds. Your heifers are also the highest BW animals you will breed. Synchronising your heifers for AI means they ll be early calving two year olds dropping high BW calves. Synchrony programmes ensure that heifers are mated over a short period and can be completed before mating starts in the cows. There are three options worth considering; Heifer CIDR synchrony No fuss - three yardings involved with fixed time AI on the last one. No heat detection is needed. CIDRs stimulate pre-pubertal (poorly grown) animals to cycle (prostaglandin has no effect on these). Nine days from CIDR insertion to insemination average conception rates to AI are about 60%. Cost: $ GST /head plus visit fees and mileage. Double Shot Prostaglandin (PG) Two doses of PG given days apart (we recommend 14 days). Mate to detected heat for 6 days after the 2 nd injection. For mating start date of 1 November, the first PG injection is required on the 17 th of October Cost is about $12+ GST/head plus visit fees and mileage. Why Wait PG Programme Mate to detected heat for 6 days. Inject all unmated animals on day 6 with PG. Mate to detected heat for a further 5 days so 11 yardings and 11 days heat detection required. Average cost is around $6.00/head plus visit fee and mileage With all PG programmes it is worth noting that it is rare for all animals to be detected in heat and put up for AI, even in well grown heifers. On average 85-90% of animals will be put up for AI. Cow synchrony/ non-cycler treatment More complex in cows as an extra hormone is used at device withdrawal PMSG which increases conception rates. Device is in for 7 days then animals are mated on day 9 (detected heat) and day 10 (blanket insemination of all animals not detected in heat) Cost is $ GST/head plus visit fee and mileage. There is a raft of NZ trial work with CIDR interventions at or around the start of mating. On average mean calving date for the treated group is days earlier. The most cost effective group to treat are those calved 40+ days, cows aged 6 years or less CIDR based treatment programmes have come back in price 15% on last year only 40% of the normal season non-cyclers were treated nationally last year as compared to previous years so there is competition out there. Why-wait programmes work well in cows as well. The most popular we do is to pull the cows which cycle in the week prior to mating into the second week of AB. It means you can effectively knock off AB a week early as an added bonus provided you have adequate bull power that is. Give us a call to see where we can help

7 Trials with MULTIMIN have shown that calves treated at weaning have improved health benefits