Last season, between July and November 2023, we were called out to assist with 665 calvings! Of these, 15 were for beefies (including 2 prolapses) and 650 were for dairy cows, with 67% of these considered “normal” calvings. So, it pays to be prepared to step in when necessary. Here are some top tips to help you navigate calving difficulties: 1. If you have made no progress after 10 minutes, call your vet for a hand. 2. Head ropes - never place it around just the calf's jaw, as this ..read more

We were recently asked about the value of pet insurance, so here are a few thoughts. As we all know, having a pet in the family is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and a privilege that comes with great responsibility. They give us unconditional love and loyalty, and in turn, we all wish for them to receive proper care. Pet owning families hope that a serious accident or illness will never happen to their pet, but it often does. Pet insurance allows pet owners to be confident that they ha ..read more

The week of his opening debut in West Otago Theatrical Society's production of Annie, Ruger, a 5-year-old Rottweiler, was diagnosed with the most aggressive bone cancer. Rather than "breaking a leg," Ruger lost a leg that week.  Amputation is the first course of action when it comes to bone cancer in the limbs; serving as both pain relief and an elimination of the primary lesion. The ability for animals to adjust is inspirational. Within three days after his surgery, Ruger was dragging ..read more

There is a lot of supporting evidence which shows that feeding calves well early on and getting them to target weights at key times will produce an animal that will repay you and more in the vat. While the financial impact is obvious, keeping animals in the herd for longer and having a single cow produce more also has a positive environmental impact, one which is currently a hot topic in the dairy industry.  Growing good youngstock is simple in theory. There are only a few boxes that m ..read more

Thanks to all our dairy farmers who came out to help celebrate the wrap-up of the reproduction season at our two recent Repro Round-Up events in Gore and Winton. These evenings give us a chance to show our appreciation to our local farmers for using our services and being fantastic partners in the dairy industry. It was one of the best seasons we’ve had in a while, so it was great to highlight the results and come together for an awesome night off the farm ­– everyone scrubs up well!A key f ..read more

The most effective lice control, using externally applied products, occurs when it is applied to sheep straight off the shears. That means within 24 hours of shearing when using a backline applied product. Some farmers favour using automatic jetting races but achieving full control with this method is difficult. If you are using a jetting race, do it as soon as possible after shearing, but expect that you may not get complete knock-down.  You may have heard of a new lice treatment ..read more

Typical symptoms include vomiting, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhoea, which results in the severe loss of body fluids and blood proteins, malabsorption of nutrients and increased secondary infections. Often there are increased case numbers in the summer months, but this year the rise continued into the autumn. Most of the infections were in unvaccinated puppies, but we also treated several unvaccinated young adult dogs.  Parvo is mainly spread through ingestion of the virus in ..read more

Another faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) season has come to a close and we have had some concerning results, showing continued high levels of resistance to triple combination drenches and growing resistance to dual-actives. We performed a total of 10 reduction tests in 2024. Above is a graph showing the results (please note, not all farms tested for every drench). *It is also important to note that this is a small sample size and likely not fully representative of our area, but ..read more

They can be bacterial, viral, parasitical, or fungal. Below are some of the main ones to watch out for and ways to help protect yourself against them:  ..read more

It affects one in five adult dogs and is even more common among older dogs. Cats can also develop arthritis as they get older, with around 90% of cats over 10 years old developing arthritis in at least one joint!  Many cases go undiagnosed because owners interpret the subtle changes in their pet to "slowing down" or "getting old". Unfortunately, arthritis is a progressive condition and there is no cure. However, you can work with your vet to design a treatment plan that will allev ..read more