WHAT S INSIDE? 2 COCCIDIOSIS 4 HEIFER GRAZING SCHEME 6 SHEEP MEASLES VET. notes. Totally Vets Supporter s Partnership Chris Carter

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1 WHAT S INSIDE? 2 COCCIDIOSIS 4 HEIFER GRAZING SCHEME 6 SHEEP MEASLES VET notes YOUR TOTALLY VETS NEWSLETTER ALL ABOUT ANIMALS ON YOUR FARM YOUR TOTALLY VETS NEWSLETTER ALL ABOUT ANIMALS ON YOUR FARM OCTOBER 2014 GO SLOW Alert Helen Sheard Although having been seen mainly in Northland, our local laboratory has issued a warning about an unexplained condition, nicknamed Go Slow, that has recently been seen in working and pig dogs. The symptoms include muscle trembling (especially in the front legs), muscle pain, dilated pupils and collapse. Following this is a long period of exercise intolerance, some dogs never returning to full fitness. The cause is currently unknown, but there is a strong link to feeding wild pork or other wild game, even if frozen or cooked. Hence we recommend NOT FEEDING EITHER to your dogs until the cause of this condition has been found. If you think your dog has developed this condition, please contact Totally Vets, as the laboratory is VERY interested in testing affected animals and trying to find some answers! Totally Vets Supporter s Partnership Chris Carter The saying that our parents drum in to us that you only get out what you put in is one of life s under-pinning truths. At Totally Vets we live and work in the communities we serve, and one of the ways in which we give back is through our Supporter s Partnership Programme which we have established with two of our major suppliers, Merial Ancare and Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health). Put simply, the Supporter s Partnership is a Totally Vets in-house rebate system. Whenever qualifying products are purchased from Totally Vets in Feilding, Palmerston North or Taumarunui, nominated schools or sporting associations are allocated a rebate. This is not an increase in the cost of any product, but a contribution from the participating suppliers and Totally Vets. For every qualifying purchase made with Totally Vets a percentage of the value of that purchase goes to our clients chosen beneficiary. At no cost, you can nominate which rural school, sports club or community group you wish to support. The payments are assembled and distributed to the school or club at the end of Totally Vets trading year. If you have animals that require drenching then you may be purchasing worming products that contribute to the Supporter s Partnership Programme. If you are not already a member and wish to sign up, a copy of the Supporter s Partnership registration form and product list can be obtained from your local clinic, by ing us at admin@totallyvets.co.nz, downloading from our website or you can call Gaye Stein on Over the last fourteen years, the Supporter s Partnership Programme has paid out over $150,000 to a variety of groups. We thank all involved for participating and we are pleased to be part of the success of our rural communities. AWAPUNI FEILDING TAUMARUNUI

2 Totally Vets current stock health Sheep Do your ewes need a docking drench? This will depend on the following: Ewe body condition Age of ewe Available feed Likely worm challenge Impact of stressors such as bad weather Dagginess Faecal egg counts - be aware of daggy ewes with a low or zero faecal egg count. This could still be worms as the ewes immune systems may be beginning to reduce the worms egg-laying around this time If ewes had a pre-lamb controlled release capsule or long acting injection - if this is HA HA Some sheep shenanigans Q Why was the sheep arrested on the Motorway? A Because she did a ewe-turn Q What do you get if you cross a sheep with a hedgehog? A An animal that knits its own jersey Q What do you call a sheep with no legs? A A cloud Q What do you call a sheep with no wool? A Shaun Last but not least Two Aussie sheep farmers were flying their mob to a new farm way out back in the outback. Suddenly, the engine fails and the plane begins to fall quickly to the ground. Aussie 1 Quick! Grab a parachute and jump! Aussie 2 What about the sheep?!? Aussie 1 Bugger the sheep!!! Aussie 2 (pause) Do you think we have time? Totally Vets prints Vet Notes on paper using FSC certified mixed source pulp from Well Managed forests and other controlled sources. The paper is produced under an environmental management system ISO Coccidiosis Hamish Pike Coccidia is an intestinal protozoan parasite that causes diarrhoea and weight loss in calves up to around 12 months of age. Common signs include blood in the faeces and abdominal pain (kicking at the gut), as well as straining to defecate and a pot-bellied appearance may also feature. Despite the incidence of disease being generally high, often with 100% of calves affected on a property, many calves will NOT develop clinical signs. The immune response following clinical infection is strong and hence resistance to the parasite following clinical infection is high. Coccidiosis is often precipitated by the stress of weaning and/or inclement weather, hence disease is most common in the late spring/ early summer, but it is also possible for the disease to occur in calves as young as two to four weeks of age that are still being reared indoors. Obviously, other causes of diarrhoea in young calves, such as Rotavirus, Cryptosporidia and Salmonella, should also be considered. Diagnosis is easily determined by microscopic examination of the faeces (similar to worm faecal egg counting) looking for coccidial oocysts (eggs). Avoiding overstocking of calves in and around the calf shed, particularly in the late spring, can reduce the disease incidence. The warm and wet conditions of the spring are highly favourable for oocyst (egg) survival in the environment. Ensure that the pre-weaner/weaner meal that you are feeding contains a suitable anticoccidial drug, such as Bovatec (Lasalocid), is commonly used. It is also vital that you are feeding ENOUGH meal to the calves to meet the required dose. Also, some milk replacers contain anticoccidial drugs, such as Deccox (decoquinate), but not always. Drugs should not be thought of as the only means of control. Management practices that allow for dirty environments, manure build up, feeding at ground level, feed and water becoming contaminated with faeces, in combination with overcrowding, should be corrected. If you have any concerns, talk to your Totally Vets veterinarian. 2

3 the case they will probably need an exit drench around weaning Please feel free to talk to your Totally Vets veterinarian about your drench options. Also, don t forget to get your rams palpated soon. Deer With the develveting season looming, make sure your facilities are safe (for both the operator and stag) and secure. Ticks affecting fawns (and antlers!) may again be a problem given the mild winters we have experienced over the last few years. Bayticol application, good pasture management going into fawning (even pasture covers) and the use of other stock (such as cattle or older stock) to clean out paddocks are all effective in the control of ticks. Dairy If you haven t already, talk to your vet about putting a mating plan together. Don t forget to metricheck your herd and treat non-cycling cows early (before the end of the first round). Remember to test your milk for BVD well before mating start date. It is extremely important that any bulls that you are buying or leasing are blood tested and free of BVD, prior to entry - see Barny s article below. Dairy calves should receive an effective drenching programme from weaning. Talk to your vet about setting up a drenching programme for your young stock. Get the most out of your bull team PART ONE Barny Askin We have seen several bull team failures in the last few years, all of which were avoidable. For a hassle-free tailing up after artificial breeding (AB) has finished, please take heed of the recommendations that follow: Ensure bulls arrive on farm a minimum of six weeks, but preferably two to three months, prior to intended use. This gives them time to settle, sort out any dominance issues and hopefully get over any new diseases they might become exposed to. Bulls should be blood-tested negative for BVD antigen before arrival. Ensure you receive, or are shown, an official copy of the paperwork to confirm this. The fact that bulls have been vaccinated is not going to stop them introducing BVD to your farm. If not done so already, bulls should be vaccinated on arrival and one month later with BVD vaccine, preferably a combined BVD/IBR vaccine. Given the emergence of Theileria in our area over the last couple of years or so, it would be wise to enquire about the presence of this disease on the property of origin. If your herd is clear you don t want to bring it in! Equally, you may have Theileria on your property (you may well be unaware!) and your bulls might be at risk of contracting this just before they are needed. The most useful precaution you can take is to treat bulls with Bayticol on arrival and at three weekly intervals until mating has finished. This will reduce the chance of them being bitten by infected ticks which spread the disease. Bulls should be selected to be of an appropriate size for your cows or heifers and ideally have been fertility checked to ensure they do not have any libido, conformational or semen defects that will render them infertile. Bulls should also have a temperament that makes them easy and safe to handle. So, how many bulls do you need? For both yearling heifers and cows, use the three percent PLUS ONE rule. That is, if you have 100 animals to mate, then you will need three bulls and one spare. Don t forget, if bulls are being used following synchronisation, the ratio will need to be doubled to approximately one bull per 15 heifers. It is a good idea to assume the worst and estimate that 50-60% of the herd could be empty after six weeks of AB and calculate bull requirements based on this. Where possible, always have some spare bulls in case of breakdowns. So you now have a sufficient number of amicable, fertile, appropriately sized bulls that are fully vaccinated, well adjusted to your property and their paddock mates and are raring to go, what could possibly go wrong? Read part TWO next month to find out! AWAPUNI FEILDING TAUMARUNUI

4 Totally Vets Heifer Grazing Scheme Mark Eames Did you know that Totally Vets operates a heifer grazing scheme for our clients? We have a number of grazing properties in the region that have been audited and assessed as appropriate for the grazing of valuable young dairy stock. These properties are managed by graziers that understand the importance of dairy stock growth targets and the different needs of this class of stock compared to other classes. As a dairy heifer owner you get matched with a grazier that suits your needs. We perform regular weight checks (weaners weighed four weekly until nine months old and then eight weekly thereafter) and provide a written report on performance after each weigh. This includes graphs showing growth rates against a target growth curve. One of the biggest advantages in having your heifers managed by us is that there is prompt investigation of any animal health problems. We also produce a comprehensive Animal Health Plan for the period of grazing. This covers quarantine drenching, regular drenching (oral drenches when practical followed by injectables), vaccinations (e.g. Clostridial, Lepto, BVD), trace element recommendations, reproductive advice (e.g. bull testing, synchrony, pregnancy testing) and is adapted through the season depending on climatic conditions. Recommendations are made on which animal health products are appropriate and these can either be supplied by the heifer owner, or by Totally Vets, and invoiced accordingly. Administering of animal health products is done by the graziers and/or Totally Vets staff, usually coinciding with weigh sessions. We encourage heifer owners to visit their stock and are happy to organise for this to occur at any time. There are two main contract periods. The weaner period is from late November/early December until April 30th, and the May- May period is from 1st May until 30th April the following year. Winter grazing for pregnant R2s may also be available during May/June/July by arrangement. The weaner contract period is charged on weight gain only. A minimum weekly fee is paid (based on weight gain equal to a modest standard curve) and, at the end of the contract, a final payment is made based on the difference between the group average start and end weights minus the amount paid as the minimum weekly fee. The May-May contract period is charged on a combination of weekly maintenance fee and weight gain fee. Maintenance fee depends on group average start weight and weight gain fee is negotiated. A minimum weekly fee is paid and then final weight payment is based on the difference between the start and end weight minus the cumulative weight gain portion of the minimum weekly fee already paid. A per head fee is taken by Totally Vets for managing the scheme. If you would like more information on our heifer grazing scheme, either as a heifer owner or as a grazier, please don t hesitate to contact Mark Eames on Gossip Spring is now officially in full swing! Included in this seasons crop we warmly welcome and congratulate Mark Eames on the early September safe arrival of his third son, Raphael. We also, after making us wait for a while, congratulate Eliza Trembath on the birth of daughter Paige, who will no doubt have her two older brothers wrapped around her gorgeous wee fingers in no time! Meanwhile Kayla Groves, vet nurse and receptionist extraordinaire, is just beginning her journey as she takes maternity leave preparing to have her first baby next month. We wish Kayla all the best! Congratulations to Juan Klue, and his wife Kirsty, for winning the Retailer Of The Year at the 2014 Feilding Excellence In Business Awards for their shop Shoppe 62 on Fergusson Street, Feilding. Taumarunui had a late midwinter Christmas party at Ginny and Aaron s house, which included a gourmet feast, only one broken glass and everyone s safe arrival home, amidst lots of fun! Several lucky members of staff are taking well earned breaks, travelling overseas Christine Moloney, from the small animal hospital, and Murray Spencer, our Information Manager, both having hopped across the ditch to experience various destinations, get some sun and have some well deserved fun and relaxation. Meanwhile we welcome home Rachel Jackson, Finance Manager, as she returns relaxed and full of memories and great stories about her recent holiday to the sunny Gold Coast. She lapped up the waves and sunny beaches and definitely got a lot of staff here jealous as they were experiencing wet and cold weather in the Manawatu. 4

5 Play it safe when drenching lambs Ginny Dodunski Back in the bad old days when men were men and words like thiabendazole, ivermectin and monepantel had not been invented; we had few safe options for treating our sheep for internal parasites. A commonly used brew that killed some worms (and quite a lot of lambs) was a three-way mix of copper, nicotine and arsenic. Even a mild overdose was enough to send a lamb into respiratory failure and death. Try getting that past the regulators nowadays! Something we do tend to forget with our more modern sheep drenches is that some of the components can still be toxic. Levamisole in particular has quite a narrow safety margin with two to three times the recommended dose being enough to kill sheep in the right circumstances. Abamectin can be toxic to lambs when overdosed, though this issue is seen more commonly in calves. Both of these drugs are components of the combination drenches that are routinely used on farms today. Lambs, primarily due to their smaller size, are the class of sheep most at risk from potential toxicity. While large scale cases of poisoning are thankfully rare, one or two sudden deaths after drenching seem to be fairly common. Lambs that collapse and/or show nervous signs soon after drenching could well be showing signs of levamisole or abamectin toxicity, or both. The use of combination drenches is considered best practice in lambs, and many of these products contain both abamectin and levamisole. This is generally not a problem, and knowing the risk factors for toxicity will hopefully enable you to avoid any problems. These include: Overdosing - Given that levamisole can be toxic at two times the label dose rate it is not smart to give ratty looking lambs an extra squirt of the drench gun! Also make sure you estimate your liveweights with some degree of accuracy. Dehydration - In cases where sheep have died of levamisole poisoning there is often a common factor - history of hot conditions after mustering or trucking. Be aware that where lambs are scouring due to a worm burden, they can become dehydrated when held off water for long periods so watch your yarding times in these cases. Heat stress Rumen bypass - Drench is designed to be swallowed into the rumen. In very young lambs (and sometimes in others) the presence of liquid on the tongue triggers the oesophageal groove reflex which directs the liquid straight into the abomasum, as happens when they suckle milk. Drenches can be rendered more toxic because they are absorbed much faster from the abomasum. Bear this in mind if considering drenching lambs at docking, not that we generally recommend this practice anyway! Passing the drench gun nozzle right over the back of the tongue is recommended practice to minimise rumen bypass. Not mixing the drench thoroughly - Not all combination formulations are created equal and some settle out faster than others. We are careful to stock products that have better performance in this respect. Regardless, shake the DRUM (not your backpack) really well before use to make sure the components are well mixed. For advice on which drench to use, talk to the Totally Vets team. We are here to help. AWAPUNI FEILDING TAUMARUNUI

6 Don t let sheep measles take the cream off your lamb crop! Ginny Dodunski Docking has started on many properties. As you work through the job you ll be tallying up the number of lambs and their likely sale value - a big chunk of the farm s annual income! Don t let any of that hard work go to waste by having carcasses downgraded at slaughter for sheep measles. If you sell lambs store you are not immune, depending on how old the lesions are, inspectors can determine whether infection came from the breeder or the finisher. Sheep measles is a condition causing cysts in the muscle (meat) of sheep caused by the parasite Cysticercus ovis. Sheep are infected when grazing pastures contaminated with faeces from dogs carrying the adult stage of the parasite (Taenia ovis). The rate at which lambs were downgraded or condemned at slaughter for the season ended July was 0.59% for all of NZ. This represents 2729 lamb carcasses from the Ruapehu area and 2927 from the Manawatu, of just under half a million lambs killed in each region! So, on the whole, farmers are doing really well at managing the disease. What these figures hide is the high prevalence farms, where up to half of some lines may be trimmed or condemned because of Cysticercus ovis cysts. There are 39 farms in the Manawatu and 39 in the Ruapehu area that have fallen into the high prevalence category and will be contacted by Ovis Management to review their sheep measles management. There are more repeat offenders in the Manawatu, maybe due to issues with dog control in a more intensive farming district closer to large towns. Please, if you are one of these, do get in touch with us to see how we can help. Dog teams should all have received a tapeworm treatment prior to docking, including the neighbour s Jack Russell and the stock agent s Labrador when they turn up to give a hand on the docking board! To completely break the cycle of infection between dogs and sheep, the surest step is to ensure that ALL dogs that come onto your property are on a monthly tapeworm dosing regime. This may need to go as far as supplying tablets for the dogs of tenants, and should definitely include staff dogs. Other steps revolve around preventing dogs from accessing raw sheep meat in any form, this includes sheep that have died out on the farm. Your duckshooting dog could be the big risk here when she sneaks away for a quiet scavenge. Get rid of dead carcasses promptly, they re not a good look anyway and people do notice them. Sheep meat being fed to farm dogs should be either cooked right through (well done not medium rare), or frozen to a core temperature of -10 degrees for 10 days. Talk to us at Totally Vets about dog food for your working dogs. Brucellosis in rams... Whose problem is it anyway? Hamish Pike Getting your rams tested for Brucellosis will not only rule out the disease but it will also identify rams that are unfit for the coming season (or sale). It s the neighbour s problem you say? Maybe think again. If your neighbour s rams have it, could it be possible that your rams could get Brucellosis, or may in fact already have it? Or, if my rams have it, could my rams spread Brucellosis to my neighbour s rams? The reality is that both of these scenarios are possible. Brucellosis outbreaks are not common but can have devastating consequences on your flock when they do occur. This will not only affect the reproductive success of your infected flock but may also impact on your neighbour s flock. Please talk to your neighbour, work in together and get ALL your rams tested! 6

7 Is she on heat? Hamish Pike A good mating management plan focuses on the key fertility management areas, one of these areas being heat detection. InCalf research has found that on about 25% of farms, heat detection errors are likely to be limiting the reproductive performance. Heat detection errors occur when either heats are missed, or heats are invented through misidentification (such as the wrong ear tag number being recorded), or misdiagnosis. Heat detection accuracy is dependent on the heat detection skills of the farmer or staff member, and which heat detection aids (tail paint or heat mount detectors) he/she uses. Everyone working with the cows on the farm should know the signs of a cow on heat (even without the use of heat detection aids): Is she standing to be mounted? Is the tail paint removed or heat mount detector triggered? She is most likely to be on heat in these instances. Does she attempt to mount other cows? Is she restless or bellowing? Does she have poor milk let-down? Does she have mucus around the vulva or mud marks on the flanks? Is the tail paint rubbed but not removed? Is the heat mount detector lost? She MAY be on heat in these instances. Cows with at least two of these may be signs are possibly on heat showing only weak signs. Some of these will not be on heat. If these cows are mated, they should be recorded with a question mark (?) for future reference. Interpreting heat detection aids like tail painting and heat mount detectors, i.e. pressure or rub-activated patches, can lead to heat detection errors also. Poor application of heat detection aids can also lead to detection errors. If using tail paint, remember to touch up at least weekly. Interestingly, InCalf research has shown that heat detection rates are higher in herds using heat mount detectors than tail paint. Best results are achieved when heat mount detectors are combined with twice a day paddock checks for heat. Paddock checks are best conducted two hours after the morning milking and again in the early afternoon. For those of you who are really keen, consider evening checks two hours after the night milking (during daylight saving!). The reason twice a day paddock checks achieve better results than heat detection aids alone is because the average duration of a cow on heat is about 14 hours, as long as the weather conditions are normal. Heats can however be as short as two hours in inclement weather. Another tool for heat detection is the P4 Rapid test distributed by Farmtest Limited (can be purchased through Totally Vets). This five minute dipstick test measures the presence or absence of progesterone in the milk of an individual cow. The absence of progesterone in the milk indicates that the cow is on heat and can be mated. It should be used in conjunction with other heat detection aids and is best used with a planned approach to mating. The test is also useful because it gives staff quick feedback which will aid judgement in being able to reliably detect when cows are bulling. Pet Lamb Health Leisa Norris ENVIRONMENT Lambs, and adults, need a safe and secure environment with shelter, quality pasture, fresh water and companionship. CLOSTRIDIAL VACCINATION This is an important and relatively cheap insurance policy to protect your lamb against potentially fatal diseases! The schedule to use depends on the vaccination status of the ewe: Ewe fully vaccinated (lamb has maternal antibodies) - give vaccination at weaning with booster in four to six weeks, then yearly booster four weeks before lambing. Ewe not vaccinated (lamb has no maternal antibodies) - give Lamb Vaccine (tetanus antitoxin plus pulpy kidney) prior to docking, followed by TWO shots of 5-in- 1 or 10-in-1 four to six weeks apart (i.e. three shots total), plus yearly booster as above. DOCKING of TAILS & TESTICLES Normally done by six weeks of age with rubber (elastrator) rings. Tails should be left long enough to cover the vulva in females and a similar length in males. When castrating ram lambs, the rubber ring needs to be placed around the base of the scrotum, above the testes but below the teats, ensuring that both testicles are present. DRENCHING There is no generic recipe to suit absolutely everyone as treatment depends on your situation and history (stock numbers/types/ classes/ages etc). As a very general guide, start at weaning with an oral combination drench every six to eight weeks for a series of six treatments and then as required, ideally based on information from faecal egg counts. For further information and advice specific to your situation don t hesitate to call your Totally Vets Veterinarian. AWAPUNI FEILDING TAUMARUNUI

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