News & Advice

Drying cows off is an opportunity to reduce herd mastitis which only happens once a year. Doing this job well can have great results. Mistakes and treatment failures are frustrating and costly. This means having a good plan and great records of what happened to which cows and when is becoming essential.   What’s the […]

This is a question I hear often… but not often enough! Why not often enough? Because occasionally I am called in after the fact, when the cows are way behind production targets or the breeding has been terrible, or both. In these cases, by the time I am called it is too late, the damage […]

The use of cow monitoring technology in heat detection and rumination changes, has become commonplace on many dairy farms around New Zealand, but how about its use for detecting mastitis and reducing the financial impact of one of the most prevalent health issues in the New Zealand dairy herd?  Detecting mastitis with cow monitoring devices […]

“UBAC®,” is an exciting development in treating mastitis which is likely the largest cost to the New Zealand dairy industry. It was estimated to cost approximately $180 million for the 2005/2006 dairy season (National Mastitis Advisory Committee, 2006). While several factors can influence the costs per cow on an individual farm, Compton and McDougall (2011) estimated […]

The New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) has as its goal that, by 2030, New Zealand will not need antibiotics for the maintenance of animal health and wellness. One may ask just how will this be achievable? Antibiotics have revolutionised the health and well-being of both humans and animals during the 20th century. But 96 years […]

Antibiotic reduction is a major topic in the livestock sector. The pressure is on to reduce the use of antibiotics and in doing so, it also has a direct impact on the human health aspect. Antimicrobial resistance facts Some key facts from the World Health Organization website:  Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top […]

During pregnancy testing, we often find cows that are pregnant but not to their most recent insemination. With the recent uptake of automated heat detection, more questions have been raised about this – why are pregnant cows being inseminated when we are using the most accurate heat detection currently available?  How cow monitoring data works […]

Multimin® is a unique combination of trace elements that has proven quite positively effective within multiple production parameters. The initial “top up” concept was initially viewed with scepticism by a number of veterinarians (including ourselves), but most of us have since been shown the error of our ways. While routine supplementation of animals is very effective […]

As dairy farmers are currently at peak calving, it may seem odd to write an article about planning for what is coming up in a few months’ time… mating. However, what is done correctly now can have a large impact on the success of the mating down the road. Everything is interconnected. This may sound […]

For years, the approach to mating has been to apply heat detection aids sometime before mating starts, to monitor the heat activity and to then implement a strategy for anoestrus cows. This is a sound strategy which supports the good basic farming principles of calving cows early, optimising recovery and achieving high premating heat rates. […]

Just how can an animal health report help with your on-farm spend? Inflation is currently running high in NZ and is apparently refusing to budge from a stubborn 7.5%. Yet recent Rabobank surveys suggest on-farm inflation is running higher and could be sitting around 14%. The main drivers of this would appear to be feed, fuel […]

It is well-known and accepted that achieving the ideal BCS at dry-off is crucial to the proceeding season. The target is BCS 5.0 for cows and 5.5 for heifers. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, this is rarely achieved and we need to put weight on our cows through the dry period. Cows calving 1 BCS lower than target […]