News & Advice

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   Stay up to date with the latest news and advice for pets and farm animals from our team of dedicated vets.

LATEST ARTICLES

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Maximising On-farm Efficiency 

When my 10-year-old finished watching BBC’s ‘Newsround’ last week, I asked him “what was in the news today?”.  I was surprised, expecting to hear about the Gaza conflict, when he answered “oh, they were talking about NZ sheep and how they cause global warming”.    The role sustainability plays Perhaps I should not have been surprised, […]

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Lame Stags – is there a new condition affecting our industry?

This year has been tough for deer farmers, with uncertainties over continued access to overseas export markets, mixed pricing messages and an increasingly fragmented market. Vetlife recognises the challenges facing its farming clients and is committed to supporting animal agriculture in New Zealand for the long haul. Part of this undertaking includes continuing to invest […]

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Sheep Pain Relief Best Practice

While care is taken to avoid shearing nicks and cuts, it’s not possible to completely prevent them. Thankfully, you can ensure animals don’t suffer as much as a result. Modern pain relief and wound care can easily be incorporated into good flock management practices. There are several products available now that can help reduce inflammation […]

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Toxic Algae or Cyanobacterial Toxicosis 

retriever looking at a river

Algae is present in many of New Zealand’s lakes and rivers all year round, and is found across a range of water qualities (including high quality). In periods of warm weather and low water flow, toxic species of algae can outgrow non-toxic, species. Levels can change dramatically from one day to the next and aren’t […]

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Multimin – The Trace Element Treatment that Keeps on Giving

Multimin use in calves is well documented and generally well accepted. Briefly, the use of a 1ml dose in newborn calves has been shown to reduce death and disease in calves by approximately 50%. What is interesting about the studies, is the effect of reducing disease and death was the same whenever Multimin was given. […]

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Thinking Ahead

A dairy calf

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 […]

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Scabby Mouth: Prevention is Better than Cure

A sheep with scabby mouth

The old adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ rings very true when it comes to scabby mouth. Scabby mouth (or orf, contagious pustular dermatitis, contagious ecthyma) is a highly contagious poxvirus affecting sheep and goats, and it is also transmissible to humans and dogs. The virus can survive in the environment for over a year […]

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Mating: Focus on the Cycling Cow

Cow wearing smart collar

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. […]

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Bull Semen Testing Under the Microscope

A bull and two cows in a field

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 […]

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Caring for Your Pet Lamb

Two lambs

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 […]

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The Value of the Vetlife Animal Health Report

Cows grazing beneath the Southern Alps

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 […]

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Look out for Theileria

A closeup of a cattle ear showing evidence of Theileria

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 […]

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Get in touch with your local Vetlife Clinic today to discuss your animal’s health concerns.

With vet clinics across the South Island, we look forward to welcoming you into one of our Vetlife clinics.

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