THINGS TO THINK ABOUT FOR THE COMING MONTHS. -Monitoring of Autumn Calvers (expect >60% of calvers to have calved by end of march)

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1 We are well into the swing of things for 2015, and it has already been a very productive few months. We have seen locum Trent come and go, and welcomed our new vet Ben Ashton to the team. Find our more about Ben in our STAFF PROFILE (Scroll Down). We also have a new friendly face on the front desk, Fiona, our ever efficient receptionist started early January. The clinic has been extremely busy in the past 2 months. We have seen numerous furry friends come in for vaccinations, check ups, and numerous ear problems. READ about this in our articles below. If your little friends are in need of vet care, get in contact with our friendly staff at the HVC office. Shane has been busy at work into the start of the new year with a good deal of pregnancy testing to assist producers who are keen to capitalise on these current strong prices by offloading empty females. This week Shane will start his Masters in Animal Science at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga with studies in veterinary on- farm consultancy and economics. Through these studies the entire HVC team is hoping to continually offer the highest level of production animal advice. And our new Vet, Ben is starting to find his feet, he has been learning the ropes at the clinic and trying not to get too lost on his farm visits THINGS TO THINK ABOUT FOR THE COMING MONTHS -Monitoring of Autumn Calvers (expect >60% of calvers to have calved by end of march) -Parasite control plan for spring weaners (pick up your complimentary management calendar with any drench/ vaccine advice) View this in your browser Facebook Website

2 -Small animal oral hygiene any smelly breath, maybe it s time for a dental? Contact the HVC Office to discuss these options, and book an appointment. INSIDE THIS FEBRUARY - Staff Profile: Ben Ashton - Fact Sheets - Vet Articles Pregnancy Testing Ear Problems in Dogs Weaning the Beef Cow and Calf

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4 Accepting that there is large variation between different operations, in this region we are looking at a ball park figure of $250 to run a cow for a year. Therefore, take a herd of 100 cows with a pregnancy rate of 90%, if we can remove the 10 empty cows, this removes the expense of $1500 associated with running these non-productive animals from now until when they would have been expected to calve. In this herd of 100 cows this implies that pregnancy testing would be worth somethingin the realm of $15/hd, which can more than Pregnancy Testing The True Benefit As February has just drawn to a close the pregnancy testing is ramping up. For most of our spring calving herds, bulls were removed from their joinings in late December. Ideally the sooner we can identify these empty cows and remove them from the system, the more efficient our system will be and the easier it will be to carry our weaners and pregnant cattle through. Females can be manually pregnancy tested from as early as 6 weeks following the removal of bulls. The use of an ultrasound scanner can facilitate even earlier pregnancy testing, where required. At this time of the management calendar, pregnancy testing should be on the forefront of people s minds, most herds are getting close to the trigger point of weaning, as determined by cow body condition score reaching 2.5 /5 and suitability to the management plan. It is a great opportunity to wean at the time of pregnancy testing and remove all non-productive animals from the system.

5 cover the costs associated with yarding the cattle and having them pregnancy tested. Furthermore, at this time of year we are becoming tight for feed and are having to partition feed for young and growing stock, there is no reason to persist with animals that will not be growing in value. Unlike heifers there is little scope for value adding in older empty cows. The most logical course of action is direct sale which will free up feed and cash flow. Ear Problems in Dogs That time of year has come around again where ear problems are starting to become a common issue with man s best friends. With increased heat and humid weather over the end of summer we have an increased number of dogs presenting with otitis externa which is quite simply an infection of the outer ear. This results from two main causes at this time of year, the first is a grass seed or other foreign object lodged in the ear leading to inflammation and self-trauma to the ear. The other cause seen is a hypersensitivity or allergy to a multitude of causes such as food, grass, pollen or other irritants. The treatment for otitis externa is relatively straightforward involving cleaning of the ear and removal of any foreign bodies before instituting topical antibiotic therapy. In cases of allergy we aim to treat the infection before treating the cause of the allergy. Weaning the Beef Cow and Calf During this time of year feed supplies are typically getting tighter and producers are keen to identify their empty females so that these can be dried off and culled. In the spring calving system this means that we can very efficiently wean and pregnancy test our cow mobs at some stage between December and May. Obviously we are keen for the calves to grow to their maximum potential, but we are also keen to find and cull any empty cows. So it poses the question, when to wean? Predominantly the decision to wean is based on feed availability and the body condition score of the cows. As a general rule of thumb the trigger point for weaning is when the average body condition score of the cow mob reaches / 5. If weaned at this point we have confidence that the cow will be able to get back to a body condition score of by calving without the need for excessive supplementary feed. Methods of weaning include yard weaning, creep weaning, abrupt weaning and gradual weaning. There are significant welfare, production and economic benefits associated with the technique of yard weaning. Whenever producers are preparing for weaning they should be organizing the location, feed source, drench requirements, vaccine boosters and disease preventative measures that will be employed during the process. Spring born calves are often 5-9 months of age when weaned and as such rations for the weaning process and ensuing months until the season break should have adequate energy and protein densities to ensure continual weight gains. There are many different drenches on the market and the one that is most appropriate for your weaner cattle will depend on many factors, contact HVC for your free livestock management calendar outlining the critical points relevant to any strategic livestock herd health plan. Copyright * 2015 * * HolbrookVetCentre *, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is:

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