News & Advice

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. […]

A critical component of cattle production is fertility as it is a driver of production cost and return on investment. Female fertility receives a large amount of attention, and it is enhanced by many different programmes, interventions and genetic selection. However, improving bull fertility is often largely ignored, despite it playing an important role in […]

Caring for your pet lamb may seem simple, but there are a few things you need to aware of … It is absolutely vital that the lamb has at least one feed of colostrum (milk from a ewe lambed within the last 24hrs) in its first day of life. Without this colostrum, the lamb has […]

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 […]

Theileria orientalis is a parasite which lives in the red blood cells of affected cattle after they have been bitten by a tick carrying the disease. It affects both beef and dairy cattle, and it can affect cattle of any age. Fortunately, there is no human health risk associated with the disease. Theileria has historically […]

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 […]

About 90% of illness in the dairy cow occurs in the transition period, i.e. the three weeks before calving through to the three weeks following calving. There is huge demand on the dairy cows during this time. From being late-pregnancy, non-lactating animals with small changes in energy demand, they go through calving (which is inherently […]

Calf diarrhoea, or scours, is one of the most common and yet devastating diseases that can affect a calf. Scours can occur due to nutritional reasons, such as a change in composition, volume or timing of milk, or due to an infectious cause. There is little in life that is more demoralising, for a calf […]

Facial eczema (FE) is caused by a fungus called Pithomyces chartarum that resides at the base of pasture in the dead litter. Moderate levels of moisture, warmth and sunlight trigger this fungus to produce spores, and when these spores are ingested, a toxin called sporidesmin is released and absorbed into the bloodstream. Due to the […]

The biggest risk period for metabolic disorders in sheep is around lambing time. Problems often arise when body condition score targets haven’t been met and the nutritional needs of the ewe are not adequately met during pregnancy and early lactation. Below is a breakdown of the 3 main metabolic disorders in sheep that we see: […]

As I am writing this, the total number of cows wearing some sort of monitoring technology in New Zealand is probably somewhere between 600,000-800,000 and growing.   In fact, the number of cow devices has doubled every year since first being introduced, so do not be surprised if this number has increased greatly again by this […]

Going into the late lactation period, we need to start thinking about the best way to get the cows and farm ready for next season. What we do now will have a big impact in the new season.   Body condition and transitioning the cows properly from milking to dry are the key points to focus […]