News & Advice

In the context of increasing drench resistance, the adoption of more advanced diagnostic tools has become essential. You may be familiar with the Parasight Systems we have been using in clinic over the past several years; we are now in a position to share key findings from real world data collected from our client base. […]

Salmonellosis has long been recognised as an important cause of disease in cattle. Based on information from the country’s veterinary diagnostic laboratories, MPI has observed an increase in the incidence of salmonellosis in dairy cattle since the spring of 2024. The trend of increasing salmonella cases, first observed in spring of 2024, extended into the […]

The use of teat sealants has evolved through several phases in New Zealand’s dairy farming practices. In the late 1990s/very early 2000s, when the products were first brought to the New Zealand market, they were somewhat haphazardly managed, and this resulted in terrible outcomes. At that point they became regarded as generally doing more harm […]

As farmers, we are often asked to think outside the square about product use. FerAppease®, a synthetic pheromone, is one of these products. Farmers are all aware of pheromones; we see it in our cows and bulls at mating. And we see products using pheromones to deal with stress in cats and dogs. Google AI […]

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top global public health and development threats identified by the World Health Organisation. It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths(1). By now most farmers will be familiar with the traffic light classification of […]

We often focus strongly on getting the best growth out of our young calves by implementing staff calf-rearing training, FPT testing and thorough health and feed plans, but once this stage is complete, it is easy to forget the importance of growing our weaned calves well through to mating. Now that those same calves are […]

Drench resistance is one of the biggest challenges currently facing the sheep industry, and we are now seeing the effects in our intensively-reared calves, such as replacement heifers. Risk factors for drench resistance are: Frequent drench use – drenching monthly or even more frequently Ineffective chemicals – resistance is when the product kills less than […]

Spring calving is an exciting, but often chaotic, time on farm. With cows springing up, milk starting to flow and pastures bouncing back, there is a lot to juggle. And if you are using wearable technology, you have probably noticed the health alerts start coming in thick and fast. The alert avalanche: a blessing or […]

It has been just over a year since Lepto 4-Way™ was introduced to the market. To recap, a nationwide survey of dairy farms revealed a new strain of leptospirosis present on many farms across New Zealand. In response, Lepto 4-Way™ was developed and launched. The uptake from Vetlife clients has been excellent, with many making […]

Wondering what FPT is? It stands for ‘Failure of Passive Transfer’. When calves are born, unlike people, they have not received any antibodies to fight disease via the placenta. To get these antibodies, they need to absorb them through the gut by drinking their dams’ colostrum. Unfortunately, there are many reasons why this does not […]

Why should adult cows be vaccinated for 10 strains of clostridial disease? Clostridial diseases are caused by bacteria that live predominantly in the soil, but some strains are found as part of the normal gut biome of the animal. In both cases, infection can result in sudden death, affecting any number of animals, from just […]

Last season, the reproductive figures for dairy herds were the best we have seen since we began ageing pregnancies. The average 6-week In-Calf Rate (ICR) rose to 69.3% for 2023/24, compared with 65.8% to 67.8% over the previous 10 years. The average Empty Rate (LIC’s Not-in-Calf Rate) decreased to 14.9% for 2023/24, down from an […]