After one of the milder, but certainly wetter winters in recent memory, the last week or so has been most welcome, and long overdue.

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1 West coast vets Ltd Dairy newsletter August 2016 After one of the milder, but certainly wetter winters in recent memory, the last week or so has been most welcome, and long overdue. Calving is progressing well for most of our clients with no major issues yet Cow condition looks to be much improved when we look back at the same time last year. Grass covers are disappearing fast though with the colder conditions. On the bright side, herds which had facial eczema cows last autumn are reporting that cows that had been badly affected last season are holding their own so far. The team at West Coast Vets Things to do this month COWS Completed your RVM drug authorisation? This is a necessary step that has to be completed if we are to continue to supply drugs. Magnesium and calcium levels in your calving cows okay? Regular checking of calving cows If a cow looks like she is having calving trouble, intervene, EARLY. If she s not making progress after 2 hours get a glove and examine her. Avoid grazing effluent paddocks with colostrum and springer cows Record all AT RISK cows (assisted calvings, retained membranes, down cows, twins, dead calves etc.) YEARLINGS Copper and Selenium levels okay? Check on condition. Maintain feed supply at a high level. Fluke drench done? CALVES Ensure all calves get at least 2 litres of colostrum in their first 6-8 hours of life. Maintain shed and utensil hygiene at a high level (VETSAN super concentrate is ideal for this). Treat all navels promptly with spirit based iodine (7-10%). BULLS Bloodtest for BVD and 1st vaccination 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 * Seiko Messenger * Terri Skeats * Alisha Langford

2 Tube feeding There has been a bit of press recently about how damaging the use of rigid oesophageal tube feeders in newborn calves is; most of it from the marketers of a new flexible calf tubing product. Bas Schouten (the godfather of calf rearing in NZ) had this to say about the practice. I have done thousands of post-mortems on newborn calves and have never seen this (rumen damage) as a consistent sign The research is very clear the higher the colostrum intake in the critical first 8-12 hours of life, the better the calf will thrive. So, why does nature get it so wrong? Calf factors precluding adequate early colostrum include: low body temperature, slow birth, difficult birth (swollen face and tongue? try sucking with that!), slow to rise, and separation from mum as she wanders off mothering other calves. This or This? Cow factors would include mastitis, low hanging udders, blocked teats and downer cow issues. The timing of colostrum intake is critical the earlier the better. How long does it take to suckle two litres of colostrum? Well, try sucking 2 litres of milk through a straw. Tube feeding colostrum is a necessary management practice that increases the odds that your calves get off to a healthy start and have optimal growth rates. Some facts on oesophageal tube feeding The tube gets nowhere near the rumen only down the oesophagus Some colostrum does end up in the rumen, but by 3 hours post feed it is all gone and in the true stomach. You re only doing it once (usually) - so no chance of any damage Calves with a good feed of colostrum in them will usually thrive and be keen to suckle from a teat 6-8 hours later. Colostrum is different from milk, it does not congeal/cause bloat if it enters the rumen Tube feeding guidelines Have more than one feeder Make sure there are no sharp edges on it Lubricate the end well before use (K-Y, vetlube) Clean often, but not with any irritant disinfectants (Vetsan is ideal in this regard) Take your time it s not a race Monitor staff to ensure its done well

3 Calf disbudding book it early! Each year we have increased the number of calves that we disbud, and as we get really busy we would like to remind you to book calves early for this procedure! Our procedure: sedate unfed (fasted for 4 to 6 hours) calves with xylazine, give local anaesthetic to numb the horn bud, then cauterise the bud with an electric iron. We also check for and remove extra teats, look for navel abscesses or hernias, then disinfect any wounds with Tetravet spray. Because the calf is recumbent and therefore easy to handle, it is an ideal time to apply any ear-tags or other treatments, such as Covexin 10n1 We prefer to do mobs of up to at a time, and if you re feeding once a day, arrange for us to come later in the day, it will ease the workload for all of us! Calves are best disbudded at about 3 6 weeks of age, so it is a case of sooner rather than later! Results when calves are done older than this can be a little variable, take more time and will be charged at a higher rate. This year we are again offering two options for calf disbudding Standard: Sedate, local, disbud and teat removal. Check navel. Tetravet spray Premium: Sedate, local, disbud and teat removal. Check navel. Tetravet spray plus long-acting Metacam pain relief. Canterbury trials have demonstrated growth rate responses where additional pain relief is used at disbudding. It is also of some interest that Fonterra failed it s Nestle audit this year because some farms they visited did not use local and anti-inflammatories. Food for thought Standard disbud pricing is $ GST per head Premium disbud pricing is $ GST per head Vetsan Super Concentrate Vetsan is our newest calf pen and feeding equipment sanitizer. Vetsan is odourless and colourless, safe for use around calves as well as calf rearers (women of child bearing age in particular take note!) unlike other products gluteraldehydes in particular, which are banned overeas. The active in Vetsan is chlorine dioxide which is active against Rotavirus, E. coli, Salmonella, Coronavirus and unlike Virkon also controls Cryptosporidium. Chlorine dioxide is widely used in hospitals around the world with great success, and is now available for use on farm. Being safe to use with your calves in the pen at the time of spraying, the best thing about Vetsan is the area it can cover; 1 litre of made up solution will cover 35m 2, versus 1 litre of Virkon which covers just 3.5m 2. Vetsan is also around seven times cheaper than Virkon per square metre, making it the best and most cost effective choice for your calves this spring. Bobby calf with-hold periods Calves will have the same meat withhold as mum if she was treated with an antibiotic while pregnant. Bobby calves mistakenly fed antibiotic milk, must be fed clean milk for a further seven days before being eligible for slaughter. Bobby calves may drink milk from cows treated with DCT provided they are outside of the cow s milk withhold period. Never intentionally give bobby calves oral antibiotics (e.g. Scourban/Tetravet powder) unless you intend to follow through with the meat withhold.

4 Psst! Hokitika goss. Ariane successfully completed the Austrian Ironman/ Ironwoman event. A truly fantastic effort and achievement in anybody s book. Tom and Mairi our Scottish locum couple have slotted in really well. Tom entertained with an insight into farming in the UK at the farmer meetings, and Tom and I spent a few hours earlier this week lavaging the stomach of a hungry Labrador that ate a whole box of slugbait. Mairi and Troy provided meticulous intensive aftercare and after three days in a coma she is now back at home. A great team effort. BEWARE of SLUGBAIT and RATBAIT! We have nearly completed all of the season RVMs and the vets are all chomping to get out and add to their calving tallies for the calving cup. Dairy Winter seminars Thanks to all who braved the weather conditions to attend one of our Winter dairy seminars. We hoped you gained a little extra knowledge and enjoyed a social catch-up. 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. Calving time special pease call Richard for more info. Richard also has a complete range of detergents for the cowshed to assist you to produce the best milk in the world. Richard can be contacted on or RichardW@westcoastvets.co.nz

5 Colostrum study Over calving last year, a Colostrum Management Study looked at 70 herds nationwide, including 10 of our local WCV farms. The results are summarised below; I.90% of colostrum samples (locally 100%) which were to be fed to day old calves were considered to have inadequate levels of antibody. (Brix test > 22%) II. 90% of colostrum samples (locally 96%) as fed had total bacterial counts above what is considered ideal. III. Nationally 30% (locally 26%, range 7-47%) of calves had a Failure of Passive Transfer (FPT) they did not have an adequate level of antibody in their bloodstream. Why is antibody rich colostrum important? If new-born calves drink pooled colostrum that measures under 22% on the Brix Test, they will not absorb enough antibody into the bloodstream and will be more susceptible to calf-hood diseases, particularly scours. Calves with low blood antibody levels are more likely to get sick, and therefore, more likely to die. They also: 1. don t grow as well, struggling to hit target weights; 2. don t produce as much milk when they reach the herd; 3. don t get in calf as well when compared to their healthy herd-mates. These are all good reasons to ensure your calves get the best possible colostrum you can feed them at birth. How do we know if we have a problem with FPT in our calves? Poor colostrum quality often leads to FPT in calves. How do you know if there is a problem on your farm? Ask us to take blood samples from 10 healthy calves (when they are between 24 hours old to 7 days old) for antibody levels to check they have absorbed enough antibodies from colostrum. If more than 2 out of 10 calves have low antibody levels we need to look at colostrum management risk factors such as: **is your colostrum good quality? **are you feeding enough colostrum? (quantity) **are you feeding the colostrum quickly enough? Calves should be fed 10 to 15% of their bodyweight in the first 12 hours of life. Because a calf s stomach capacity is limited to no more than 2 litres, you will need to split the feed into two. For example, a 40kg calf needs a total of 4 litres of colostrum, split into 2 feeds of 2 litres of colostrum within the first 12 hours of life. Note the 3 Q s - Quickly, Quantity and Quality! Harold says Product outages As many of you will be aware, we have been unable to source Mastalone since February. We have now been told that it will be unavailable this season and is only likely to be available again in Spring of 2017 SPRING ESSENTIALS Metabolics Calpro ml flexi, Calcium + B12. Ist choice Milk Fever treatment $14.61 Mag sulphate 20% - 500ml flexi $11.09 Glucalphos - Ca + Mg + Dextrose 500ml flexi $15.80 Starter Plus - oral drench, Ca+Mg+ energy. 20litre pack $ = $6.44/litre Calf electrolytes Enerlect 8kg pails, quality rehydration solution, with market leading energy content that actively rehydrates dehydrated milk fed calves. Only $1.90/ 2litre feed All prices GST exclusive

6 BCS round-up Over the last season a number of farms have signed up to the DairyNZ initiative where we have gone out and condition scored their entire herd; once in summer, again at drying off, and then finally mob scoring just before calving. The overall feedback we have got from those that participated was very positive. One of the main benefits being able to generate lists of individual cows which needed special attention; either that they needed extra food, drying off early or the fatter girls that could be kept in milk for a little longer. The averages are shown in the table below (blue line on charts), overall there was an average change of 0.6 of a body condition score from summer to precalving with only an average 0.4 score change during the dry period. With the target for pre-calving cows being the majority of farms did not achieve targets. This is a trend seen all over the country. We have the fertility information for most farms which participated. Using the summer BCS average of 4.2 as the benchmark, farms that had lower average herd BCS at this time also had lower average submission rates at 76%. Farms that achieved a >4.2 BCS average had higher average submission rates at 85%. We will be using BCS results in relation to next seasons fertility results, to demonstrate how higher conditioned herds compare to herds which start the season in lower body condi- Dirty cow update Although we are only in the early stages of calving, there will be cows out there with endometritis (dirty cows) that will take longer to get back in calf if not detected and treated early. Some of those dirty ones will be easy to detect (smell, discharge), others are easily missed. The trick is to find those non-smelling, non-discharging animals as soon as possible! Of course some of you will say: cows will clean themselves up towards mating BUT data shows that if cows are treated earlier for endometritis, they: conceive on average 8 days earlier, and 6 WICR rates are on average 9.6% higher, in comparison to cows treated just before mating or cows that self-cure! In other words: treat dirty cows early instead of later!! Metrichecking in batches is the best way to find those dirty cows early. If cows are tail-painted in two to three week batches they are easily identified and can be metrichecked and treated as early as possible. An NZ study last year demonstrated a $26-33 return per cow or a return on investment. Give us a call at the clinic if you have any questions.

7 Early season mastitis Most cases of mastitis in the week or so after calving are environmental, generally Strep uberis. This bug gains entry to the open teat over the dry period, especially so if the cow starts leaking milk in the days leading up to calving. Strep uberis is readily sensitive to penicillin containing antibiotics Penclox or Intracillin are the drugs of choice for individual quarters whereas Masticillin, Penethaject and Mamyzin are more suited for multi quarter cases and heifer mastitis. Although they have a longer milk withdrawal period, by virtue of their higher levels of antibiotic, retreatment rates are much reduced compared to using shorter with-hold products. Strep uberis mastitis can be difficult to find in the early stages of infection if you rely only on visual changes in the milk. Using a rapid mastitis test (paddle test) will pick up cases more reliably this is why we recommend using the RMT on all animals that leave the colostrum mob. Mastitis cases appear to be more prevalent this year compared to last season based on drug usage to date. No surprise there given the reduction last season in dry cow antibiotics and teat sealants, and the awful weather we endured over the winter. For any and all cases of mastitis that you do get, make sure that all staff know the procedures you want followed to maximise cure rates and minimize the risk of inhibitory substances grades. We recommend you follow MRS T: M: mark the cow and quarter red paint is cheap, grades aren t. R: record the case on the whiteboard, or better still directly into Protrack or MINDA S: separate the cow don t treat during milking, draft her out. Treat only after the vat has been disconnected. T: the final thing to do is treat her. As we get through calving, take a little time to have a quick tally up of how many cases you have had to date. If it is greater than 6 or 7 cases per 100 cows calved then we need to think about what could be changed for the cows yet to calve. Can the cows calve in a cleaner or drier paddock? (less than 2 cow pats per m2) Are all newly calved cows milked within 24 hours? Can the springer mob be teat sprayed at least 3 times a week? Have the heifers been on concrete prior to calving? Is udder oedema (grossly swollen) a problem? Are heifers letting their milk down? Avoid over milking. What is teat end condition like? Is the teat spray recipe being followed? And only being mixed no more than 3-4 days ahead? Is teats pray getting onto the teat ends, let alone the teats!? Is the exit track clean and well drained? If you are experiencing mastitis problems please call us in the first instance. A milking time visit may well help sort a few issues. We now do routine milk cultures in house, so can have a presumptive diagnosis in under 24 hours in most cases, rather than 3-4 days with off site milk cultures.

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