Sheep pregnancy scanning has become an annual pilgrimage for Welshman Steve. Steve Lloyd has been pregnancy scanning ewes for over 25 years. He has scanned in the UK, Norway and across New Zealand for the last 20 years. 2023 is his 6th season with the Vet Services team. Steve loves returning to Hawke’s Bay…
Imagine a farm with lots of worms and no drench to kill any of them. would that mean you couldn’t farm sheep? TRIPLE DRENCH RESISTANCE IS HERE NOW. While long acting anthelmintics have a role in the management of parasites in lambing ewes and the subsequent levels of pasture contamination, their use contributes to…
Naomi Barrett, Vet Services Dannevirke The transition period for a dairy cow is recognised as the interval extending from three weeks prior to three week after calving. These weeks are the most critically important period of the year for a cow, as her body undergoes significant physiological changes. In the space of only a few…
Working dogs are an asset to any farmer and are becoming an increasingly large investment. The lifetime value of a useful working dog is estimated to be $40,000 with dogs fulfilling roles other staff cannot replace. With this in mind, as the temperature drops and we make sure we have enough firewood and warm socks…
Too hot to handle Crops are an integral part of many systems, supplying supplementary feed when pasture covers get tight during autumn and winter. Unfortunately, nothing in life is ever that simple with many of the popular choices for crop being higher risk for nitrate accumulation, placing us between a rock and a hard place…
While long acting anthelmintics have a role in the management of parasites in lambing ewes and the subsequent levels of pasture contamination, their use contributes to the onset and extent of anthelmintic resistance. With growing concern over the number of farms in NZ now showing clinical and subclinical issues with anthelmintic resistance, the following should be considered…
We are hosting a series of seminars around the topic of winter feeding and setting your farm up for spring performance. Our vets will talk about lambing in tough feed times, winter feeding of cattle, and some of the winter animal health issues to watch out for. The seminar will be followed by a free BBQ &…
With the change of season and cooler nights fast approaching it’s time to consider how you will keep your working team warm this winter. Why it is important to keep your team warm over winter? In recent years there has been a real push to improve kennel conditions and to provide bedding and jackets…
Sheep Scanning is used to ascertain whether or not a sheep is pregnant (“wet” vs “dry”, known as WD) and/or how many lambs she is carrying (single vs twin vs triplet, known as TSD or Triplets). We strongly encourage investing in pregnancy scanning as the scanning data allows you to maximise your flock performance with…
Cows are amazingly stoic creatures, hiding their pain well from us. Lameness is one of the ways they will show pain, and most of the time it has stemmed from a foot issue. The corium is the layer of tissue inside the hoof that the hard hoof grows from, and when it becomes damaged it…
Your livestock are at risk from clostridial disease at key times throughout the year. This means full, annual protection is vital to protect them against death. Clostridial diseases are caused by a group of bacteria that have the ability to form resistant spores. Spores can concentrate in areas of high usage e.g. around yards, sheds…
A common winter issue, lice are prevalent at this time of year due to their preference for cooler, darker and drier weather conditions. Infestations develop as a slow burn on healthy animals, with numbers gradually increasing on individuals. The entire lifecycle of lice is spent on sheep, so transmission between individual animals can only occur…
