VetNews. Calf management

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1 SEPTEMBER 2018 WHAT S INSIDE? VetNews Palpating the ram 3 The cost of calf scours 5 Book in your bulls! Reduce the risk of introducing sub-fertile bulls to your herd by using our fertility testing service! Our testing provides assurance that your bull team is sound by collecting semen, for microscopic evaluation, via an artificial vagina while the bull mounts a teaser heifer/cow. This allows visual assessment of the bull s penis in an erect state, his libido, ability to mount and scrotal measurement. We can also test for potentially devastating diseases such as Bovine Viral Diarrhoea, Enzootic Bovine Leucosis, Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis and Trichomonas. All you need to provide are yards with good footing, strong rails to attach the teaser bale, a race, a quiet non-pregnant heifer/cow (of similar size to the bulls being tested), and two people to help. Time taken is variable but ranges from one to twenty bulls per hour. Ring your local clinic to book in or for further information about this vital service. Calf management With calves in the sheds again it s prudent to have a plan in place for management of calves, including planning for the timing of disbudding and vaccinations. DISBUDDING It is most efficient and effective to disbud calves with a hot iron between four to eight weeks of age. Calves can be disbudded using sedation or awake in a calf crate. It is less stressful for calves (and humans!) using sedation. Studies have shown that calves disbudded using sedation and local anaesthetic drank more milk and grew significantly faster in the next two weeks than calves disbudded without any pain relief. Also note that calves need to be kept somewhere clean and dry for 24 hours after disbudding to prevent the wounds becoming infected. VACCINATIONS We recommend vaccinating calves around four to six weeks of age (at disbudding) with Ultravac 7-in-1. This contains the five Clostridial vaccines as well as two strains of Leptospirosis vaccines (L. hardjo and L. pomona). To prevent calves becoming carriers of Lepto it is important this vaccination is done before calves are exposed to any infection risk. This vaccination only works as a preventative and not as a cure. Ideally the first 7-in-1 shot is given as early as four weeks of age and then they get a booster four to six weeks later to ensure vaccine effectiveness. This means good record keeping is essential so that all mobs get their boosters when they need it! We will also book you if you wish us to look after these repeat vaccinations. Lepto vaccination only produces a reliable immune response for months, so it is recommended to give calves a third shot when you do your annual herd Lepto vaccinations (generally in autumn), to line the calves up with the rest of the herd. Tararua Veterinary Services cnr George St & Main Street, Pahiatua P Denmark St, Dannevirke P

2 Looking ahead Potential animal health issues, tasks to consider and reminders for September include DAIRY Calf management excellent hygiene practices are essential throughout the season so keep up with this! So long as the weather allows, getting calves outside onto grass is generally a big help, but do keep coccidiosis prevention in place most easily done through meal containing a coccidiostat. Also make sure not to miss the key four to eight week window in which to disbud calves have you got yours booked in? Metri-checking hopefully your first batch and/or the at-risk group of cows will already have been checked and, if required, treated - this will go a long way towards helping to get mating off on the right foot. Ha Ha A poem from New Zealand Farm and Station Verse Four a.m. the clocks remind us Hours of toiling lie ahead, We must rise, and leave behind us Comforts such as fire and bed. Let us then be up and doing. Cows to milk; and pigs the Deuce! (That s a heartfelt curse pursuing Blighters that have broken loose!) Tararua Vet Services prints VetNews 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 Optimising velvet production from your stags Barny Askin Whilst much of the quality and yield of velvet from your stags is due to their genetics it is necessary to optimise feeding them at critical times to realise the full potential of the genetic progress that has been made in recent years. One of the critical times for feeding velveting stags is in the immediate pre- button casting phase. It is important in the month or so prior to button-drop to provide stags with a lift in quality feed. During the spring velvet growth rates of around 2-3 cm/day can be achieved but the penalty for sub optimal nutrition will be a delayed casting which can significantly reduce velvet yields by up to 20%. Spring pasture is very high in protein and can be a great feed for velvet production but it needs to be cm in height and unsoiled to be optimal. If good leafy pasture like this is not available then it is important to offer them high quality supplements. Speciality baleage made from chicory, red clover or lucerne can be an excellent supplement. This can be fed ad lib with 1.2kg of whole grain/ head/day. PKE, or processed feed nuts, are an excellent source of nutrition if quality pasture is short. It is not necessary however to offer stags high cost feeds if an adequate supply is available as it will not increase velvet yields. When feeding out supplement to stags it is important to ensure it is well spread out to avoid fighting. This is also a timely reminder for those of you who still have work to do on your velvetting facilities to bring them up to scratch to comply with the new regulations. For more in-depth information go to You can also call us for advice or to book a velvetting appointment. Excellence in Veterinary Service, Care & Advice

3 Bull preparation - the start of natural mating may seem a long way off yet but selecting and preparing your bull team well is an excellent first step to ensure a successful mating. SHEEP and BEEF Lambing maintain checks on later pregnant ewes and act quickly at the first sign of metabolic disease of lambing trouble. Docking time having a plan in place will help ensure important tasks aren t missed - from clostridial vaccination to drenching, make sure you ve got all tasks in hand at this busy time. Maximise lamb growth by giving them a shot of selenium and B12 article P6. EQUINE Spring things the spring flush of grass can bring with it some challenges, particularly in regard to laminitis prevention, weight management in ponies remember prevention is better than cure! It is also timely to worm all horses with a drench containing moxidectin (such as Ultra-mox ) as this is often the period of risk for cyathostomosis. Foaling mares should now be in the paddocks in which they will foal. Also make sure they have had their pre-foal vaccinations (primarily Tetanus and Strangles, possibly Salmonella) four to six weeks before their due date. DEER Ticks depending on your farm history consider the need for tick control in the coming months. Talk with your vet about options for treatment. Palpating the ram Cayleigh Carter Why do we do it and what are we looking for? Often in summer you can find your vet hunkered down in a race behind a line of woollies, what are we doing? We are palpating rams. This involves checking the testicles for defects to determine the ram s soundness for breeding. It is preferable to palpate rams at least six weeks before mating, at sale time and at ram lamb weaning. Defects we commonly detect include: Mono-orchidism (only one testicle present) Micro-orchidism (one or both testicles are underdeveloped) Cryptochidism (no testicles present) Epididymitis (lumps/inflammation in the surrounding tubes) Scarring and damage to the testicle or scrotum Scrotal mange All of the above conditions can affect a ram s fertility, so detecting these problems early can help us to make decisions on which rams are best to use at mating and which rams are sound for sale. It is important to have a six-week buffer between palpating and mating so that unsound rams can be removed and replaced. Brucellosis Brucellosis is a disease caused by the bacteria Brucella ovis. It tends to affect mature rams and can cause epididymitis which can be palpated as lumps in the epididymis surrounding the testicle. The disease variably affects the quality of the semen from the ram, which in turn can lead to reduced lambing performance. Brucellosis can be passed between rams by mating behaviour with each other and by mating a ewe who has recently been mated by an infected ram. Risks include introducing a new ram to the flock and untested neighbouring rams jumping the fence. Unfortunately, not all Brucellosis rams will have lumps and fortunately not all rams with lumps will have Brucellosis. Other diseases, like Histophilus, and injuries to the testicles can cause lumps, even teaser rams will have very large lumps. The way we can distinguish if a ram with lumpy testicles has Brucellosis or not is through a blood test. How to help prevent Brucellosis Keep good boundary fences Test any new rams by palpation and blood test if they haven t been tested before you bought them Get your local vet to palpate rams every year pre-mating and pre-sale and blood test any with lumps There is a voluntary Brucellosis scheme available which allows you to declare the farm as Brucellosis accredited after a series of blood tests and palpations have been carried out by a veterinarian. Accreditation is annually reapproved by doing the following: blood testing and palpation of all stud rams, blood testing a proportion of commercial rams and palpation of all commercial rams. Please feel free to ask your veterinarian about ram palpation. We organise a series of ram runs in the district at premating time each year so call us to book a time. Tararua Veterinary Services cnr George St & Main Street, Pahiatua P Denmark St, Dannevirke P

4 Targeted Selective Treatment - Protecting drench performance in cattle systems Ginny Dodunski In the sheep industry we ve had more than a decade of activity aimed at prolonging the useful life of the anthelmintic drenches that are so important for controlling internal parasites in young stock. AgResearch s multiple studies into drench resistance clearly showed the protective effect of using combination products as opposed to single actives. However simply changing what you purchase without changing what you practice will have a limited impact on slowing the development of resistance. Terms such as refugia, co-grazing and selective treatment are finding their way into day to day language and farmers are finding ways to fit them into their systems to protect the performance of the anthlemintics we use. Remembering of course that we can achieve a lot through good nutrition to minimise our dependence on anthlemintics! In the beef and dairy grazing worlds we need to be similarly looking at tools to add to combination drench use to maintain the efficacy of the drugs we have. The concept of refugia entails leaving some parasites unselected by drench. The easiest way to apply this is to ensure that un-drenched animals graze the same areas as animals under regular drench treatment. Thus, the worms that survive and develop on pasture are not solely those which have survived the drench treatment. In sheep breeding systems refugia can be easily provided via undrenched ewes, used in a planned way. However, on beef rearing and dairy grazing blocks suitable older animals may be in short supply, and their efficacy in providing effective refugia is not well understood. An area that is attracting some research attention both here in New Zealand (NZ) and overseas is the concept of Targeted Selective Treatment (TST), whereby not all young cattle in a mob are drenched at the same time, allowing some animals to provide a source of unselected parasites to dilute out any that may be surviving the drench treatment. EID (tagging with electronic tag) via the NAIT (National Animal Identification and Tracing) system has provided us with a simple way to apply this concept in any young cattle grazing system should we choose. A TST programme can run thus: Calves are yarded for weighing, a liveweight gain target is set; (say 600g/day for dairy grazers or 800g/day for R1 bulls) animals which have exceeded the target go straight back out onto good feed, those who have not, receive a drench and then join the mob. It may seem frightening to leave calves undrenched but much of the work done to date demonstrates that there is minimal liveweight cost to this system when feed levels are good, and there are farmers around NZ employing this system and dropping their drench inputs substantially. Work with dairy grazers by Lincoln University showed that a TST regime reduced anthelmintic use by 74% on one farm and 47% on another. The first farm had a high proportion of adult animals on the calf grazing area and thus likely much lower larval challenge. While it makes great sense to consider a system that not only improves sustainability and saves money, you do need to be committed to doing it well. Do the weighing on time, stay abreast of your feed supply and demand; anticipating and correcting feed shortages before they occur so that untreated animals don t suffer the triple whammy of no drench, grazing lower (high larval intake), and insufficient feed. There may be one or more times in the year (pre-winter Ostertagia clean-out is a good example) where all animals should get a blanket treatment regardless of the TST results. If liver fluke is an issue on your property there may be a case for a blanket treatment for this parasite. If you re thinking of designing a TST system for your own young cattle, spend some time discussing it with us before you start. Excellence in Veterinary Service, Care & Advice

5 The cost of calf scours Alex Bowes Calf scours is an expensive and time-consuming disease which strikes at the busiest time of the year. Costs incurred involve not only treatment expenses and calf losses but also precious time costs and reduced live weight gains. The mainstay of preventing calf scours is careful colostrum management and good hygiene and feeding practices. Ensuring calves get their full allowance of colostrum is the vital key to scour prevention with a focus on the three Q s being followed: Quantity 10% of body weight (split over two feeds usually to prevent over feeding) Quality only top-quality colostrum (heifers and old cows often have poorer colostrum as measured using a refractometer) Quickly ideally the colostrum volume should be given within six hours of birth However, even the best-laid plans can go awry and when calf scours hits, the most valuable tool to overcoming it is a thorough electrolyte therapy protocol. Most calf scours infections are viral (Rotavirus, Coronavirus) and/or Cryptosporidium and are self-limiting. The upset in the intestines caused by infection leads to the release of acids into the blood stream and acidosis. This acidosis causes the clinical signs of depressed calves which struggle to stand and are too weak to suckle. The downward spiral of dehydration, starvation and acidosis continues until the calf succumbs. The best electrolyte formulas will correct this acidosis as quickly as possible and get the calf back on its feet and drinking milk, as well as correcting electrolyte imbalances and dehydration. Making sure the calf gets back on milk to keep its energy levels up is essential due to the vital role energy plays in the body s immune response and therefore speed of recovery. Unfortunately, not all electrolytes are created equal and can vary greatly in their ability to address the needs of the scouring calf. No formula will match milk in meeting a growing calf s demand for energy, proteins and fats for growth and repair of damaged intestine. Using research from New Zealand and abroad, we have developed an electrolyte product which we think is the best on the market for reversing acidosis and getting calves back drinking milk as soon as possible. It is called Totally Hydrated and is only available through Tararua Veterinary Services (Pahiatua and Dannevirke) and Totally Vets (Feilding, Awapuni and Taumarunui). Totally Hydrated has excellent buffering capacity against acidosis and it also has the added bonus of being able to be mixed in milk at a half dose, without interfering with milk digestion. It can also be added to milk replacer, as long as the milk replacer is mixed at the manufacturer s recommended rate. This is great for calves with mild scours which are still drinking their full allowance of milk. If the calf doesn t drink the full amount, simply mix one full dose in warm water and stomach tube the calf. As it doesn t interfere with milk digestion, it is the perfect electrolyte for use in beef calves which are still on the cow. The calf can receive a highly effective dose of electrolytes by stomach tube and then go back to the cow, without any risk of affecting nutritional intake. The other great feature of Totally Hydrated is its price*: To add to water for bottle or tube feeding, a full dose costs $3.00 To add to milk in a feeder, a half dose costs $1.50 We think you will love the performance and value for money of Totally Hydrated! For more information or to discuss any calf scour issues you might be having, pop into your local clinic. *Price as at September 2018 and subject to change without notification. Tararua Veterinary Services cnr George St & Main Street, Pahiatua P Denmark St, Dannevirke P

6 Pre-mating trace elements Steve Harvey Knowing the trace element status before you start heat detection is essential for a successful season and reproduction. Milk production can result in these levels declining in the blood and liver. Low levels can reduce cyclicity in cows Getting the trace mineral status right is important because more cycling cow s means fewer non-cycling cows you will have to deal with. Having the correct mineral status and supplementation process will ensure you optimise the chances of getting better submission rates, conception rates and ultimately pregnancy rate. With shorter mating periods this becomes very important. Testing We strongly encourage you to test your herd before you start heat detection. A representative group of cows, young and old that have been on the dairy platform for at least a month will give a representative indication of mineral levels. Testing involves getting a blood sample and, in some cases a liver biopsy. Call your local clinic to make an appointment. Spring Lambs Chris Carter Across the practice there is great variation in when lambing starts; however, no matter when, docking is a key event. If you have vaccinated your ewes two to four weeks pre-lamb with a 5-in-1 booster, there is normally no reason to vaccinate your lambs at docking/tailing, you can wait until weaning. However, if you have high percentage of multiples or your pre-lamb booster was outside the two to four week timeframe, then give the lambs a 5-in-1 shot at docking. With the price of lambs being so high it is cheap insurance. If you have vaccinated the ewes with Nilvax pre-lamb, the ewe will provide protection via the colostrum for up to 16 weeks which will protect lambs through to weaning. This is one of the benefits of using Nilvax. If the ewes were not vaccinated pre-lamb then vaccinating the lambs at docking with Lamb Vaccine will be the most effective option. If you don t like the cost of this, then vaccinate the lambs with a 5-in-1 with the knowledge that the level of protection will be variable. If you do vaccinate the lambs at this age with 5-in-1, revaccinating them four to six weeks later is essential. Scabby Mouth can be a scourge on many farms; if this disease is present then you will need to vaccinate with Phenax or Scabigard. This involves scraping the skin in the inner thigh with the applicator to form an X. The skin scraping should not draw blood as this will wash the vaccine out. As will fly dip if you apply it onto the scratch site. With Scabby Mouth vaccination always check the vaccine take in a sample of lambs around five to eight days later. If vaccination has been successful, the scratch will have raised whitish lesions. If you are not seeing these lesions, then please talk with us. Phenax /Scabigard, 5-in-1 and Lamb Vaccine products are all temperature sensitive keep the packs/vials in chilly bins until used and replace vaccination needles regularly when vaccinating under the skin. The Phenax /Scabigard applicator has its own scratching needle. Other essentials at docking include preventative fly control and, on some farms, selenium and vitamin B12 supplementation. Long-term fly control will be achieved by using products such as StrikeForce S (meat WHP 14 days) and CLiK (meat WHP 35 days) or for shorter protection CLiKZiN (meat WHP 7 days) and the cyromazine products such as Cyroshield (meat WHP 21 days) and Cyrazin TM (meat WHP 14 days). On some farms selenium and/or B12 may be required to maximise lamb growth. Smartshot will provide long term selenium plus vitamin B12 for replacement ewe lambs or stud ram lambs, or if you are wanting shorter term supplementation, inject with Vijec B12 + Selenium. For further advice on your docking plan or any of the products mentioned call us at your clinic or chat to your veterinarian. Excellence in Veterinary Service, Care & Advice

7 Coccidia in dairy calves Chris Carter There is nothing worse than rearing great calves in the shed and then see them go backwards as they start to go outdoors and onto pasture. With most meals now containing coccidiostats the signs of this disease don t become apparent until around eight to 12 weeks of age. Infection is via the mouth, with the coccidia invading the wall of the intestine, and as they mature and hatch the damage to the gut occurs. The first sign you will see is poor performance, and this can progress to diarrhoea (often with blood in the faeces and calves straining). Talk to us about how to lower the risk of clinical disease and if you have clinical infection we will treat with Catolyst or Baycox. In 2017 we tested calves post-weaning. On 86% of the properties tested we detected coccidia. The test of a faecal sample is simple, and if detected, it is best to treat the entire group; prevention through early treatment can avoid significant setbacks. Endometritis Dani Stevens Endometritis is caused by a chronic infection in the uterus after calving and is more prevalent in cows defined as "high risk". What is Endometritis? Endometritis is a bacterial infection of the uterus but the cow doesn t show any symptoms of being sick (not clinically unwell). Why is it important? Endometritis reduces fertility in affected cows. In particular, it reduces conception rates which in turn reduces pregnancy rates. It can be at a large cost to farms, not only in a reduced total milk payout but also in loss of genetic gain as cows which do not get in calf are culled and in reduced culling options (e.g. high somatic cell count cows). Endometritis is therefore a vital consideration when planning post calving management of your herd. What is a "high risk" cow? Cows which have had to be assisted when calving, twins, premature calvings, dead calves, abortion, uterine prolapses, retained foetal membranes and metabolic cases are at a higher risk of developing Endometritis. However, other cows in a herd can also be affected by Endometritis, even without any of the above risk factors. In a 2009 study it was shown that 71% of cows with Endometritis weren't considered "at risk" and so it is important to check your entire herd for Endometritis before mating. How do we diagnose Endometritis? Most commonly in New Zealand a Metricheck TM device is used to diagnose Endometritis. This tool is used to sample the discharge present in the base of the vagina, looking for the presence of pus. This check is best done in the seven to 28 days following calving to most effectively diagnose Endometritis. Metrichecking can be done outside of this time but this reduces the accuracy of the test. If the check is done after 28 days then the cervix can close, locking the pus inside the uterus where it cannot be sampled by the Metrichecker. We offer two different options for Metrichecking your herd: 1. A single Metricheck TM of the entire herd four weeks before mating with any positive cows treated with Metricure at the time of testing. This approach costs $1.60 including GST per cow + Metricure cost. 2. An intensive three check plan. Cows calved for more than a week are checked at each visit, starting from three weeks after planned start of calving. Any cows found to be positive at each visit are treated at the time with Metricure. Checks are done every three weeks after the first check (each cow can be checked up to three times). This approach costs $3.75 including GST per cow in the herd + Metricure cost. A recent study involving over 15,000 dairy cows in the North Island showed that using the intensive three check plan produced a 2.4% increase in six-week in-calf rate at the whole herd level. The study found that early identification and treatment of affected cows leads to around 3.4 to 4.4 times return on investment making this plan well worthwhile. For this reason, we strongly recommend the three check plan. What is the treatment for Endometritis? Cows identified positive for Endometritis at Metrichecking are treated with Metricure. Metricure is deposited into the body of the uterus and contains Cephapirin, a cephalosporin antibiotic. This treatment leads to excellent cure rates in cows affected with Endometritis (up to 87% cure). A single treatment should be sufficient to treat almost all affected cows in your herd. Contact your veterinarian to discuss postcalving management and Metrichecking in your herd to improve your herd performance this year! Tararua Veterinary Services cnr George St & Main Street, Pahiatua P Denmark St, Dannevirke P

8 Tararua Veterinary Services cnr George St & Main Street, Pahiatua P Denmark St, Dannevirke P