In this issue:+ Lepto vaccination

+ Pregnancy Testing

+ Facial Eczema – count your own farm and do zinc bloods

+ Monthly Reminders

Dairy Moosletter

VET ENT ENT

2020DECEMBER

It is time, once again, to action your Leptospirosis vaccination programme for young stock.

Leptospirosis vaccine protects your herd against infection with the leptospire bacteria, and the transmission of Leptospirosis to humans via the shedding of bacteria in cattle urine.

Whilst the control of leptospirosis in New Zealand dairy cattle has improved markedly thanks to widespread vaccination, evidence remains that there is still room for improvement. Farmers or farm workers have a 3 - 4% chance of contracting a notified case of Leptospirosis in their working lifetime and it is estimated that the number of unreported cases are in reality very much higher.

The earlier we can get calves vaccinated the risk of them becoming infected prior to vaccination is lessened considerably. VetEnt research

indicates that a vaccination programme is effective where calves receive their 1st vaccination when the youngest calf is 3 months old and a booster 4 – 6 weeks later. Whilst it is possible to vaccinate your calves earlier than this a third vaccination will be required after the 4 month mark to ensure successful completion of the programme.

Heifers can receive their annual Leptospirosis booster vaccination around the same time as the calves final shot, and your herd in January/February, so this will synchronise all classes of stock to maintain an annual revaccination interval of no more than 12 – 13 months.

A VetEnt team member will be getting in touch soon to organise 1st calf vaccinations at which time we can make some provisional plans for your heifers and herd.

Lepto vaccination

CONTAMINATED ENVIRONMENT• Waterlogged pasture • Ponds• Drains • Rivers

RESERVOIR HOST• Rats • Possums• Mice • Hedgehogs• Rabbits • Deer• Goats • Sheep

• Pigs • Cattle

Bacteria Leptospira sp.

People can catch lepto when they are exposed to leptospires (the infectious bacteria) passed from animals in urine. Leptospires thrive in wet conditions, especially when it’s warm and wet. Lepto can be transferred to people via their eyes, nose, mouth or skin wounds. Dairy workers are at most risk due to the high risk of urine splash, but there are multiple risk activities on all farms.

LEPTO LIFE CYCLE

FACTS ABOUT LEPTO

DISEASE PASSED ON TO PEOPLE• Splash of urine

contaminated water• Cuts on skin• Via eyes, nose

or mouth

urine

urine

infects

contains

Diagram courtesy of Zoetis Animal Health

With Pregnancy testing just around the corner, have you ever thought about requesting one of the Vetent team to record the results for you?

Having accurate pregnancy test data is crucial for making herd management decisions! We’ve got a fantastic team that can for a small fee (between $75-$115 per farm) come out when we are scanning your herd and record the results

accurately into Infovet. This will link with your Minda account and give you reliable results without the stress of having to record the results yourself, allowing you to reprioritise your time and free you up for far more valuable things on the day.

Have a talk to one of our team about this if you’re interested.

Pregnancy Testing

Zinc and spore testing – a re-think

Facial eczema promises to be a nasty issue this year, with a warm spring under our belts and another hot summer on the way (and hopefully some rain!). With the large volume of research that has been done over the last few years, we understand a lot more about control than we previously did, and as a result some of the management recommendations are changing.

Impacts on milk production

A study performed in 2018 identified that even a single intake of a high spore count can cause significant drop in milk yield – ranging from 9 to 85%, and lasting for several weeks after the episode. This means that developing a good control and monitoring protocol early in the season is crucial. We’ve been reiterating to farmers for years about ‘subclinical’ losses of facial eczema (primarily milk production), and it’s important to remember that this issue causes significant underlying liver damage, and it’s just the nasty skin lesions we see in some cows.

Spore counting

In the past we’ve relied heavily on regional spore counting, and whilst this is a useful tool to understand overall spore count trends, it’s very inaccurate for predicting the spores on your property. The spores can vary so much from farm to farm, and paddock to paddock, that it’s a much safer idea to spore count your own farm weekly.

This can be done in a number of ways, either by picking the same ‘monitor’ paddocks every week, or by looking at the paddocks that the cows will be grazing in the near future. The actual method of sampling grass for spore counting can impact the accuracy of the results – we’ve got some fairly short, sharp instructions on how to get the most out of your pasture sampling.

Zinc testing

Every year we hear a couple of classic lines, such as “I don’t test my zinc levels because they were fine 5 years ago when I last did bloods” or “I don’t test my zinc levels because I don’t have any eczema problems”.

After multiple years of trial work, and thousands of zinc blood samples, we can safely say that both of these statements will get you in trouble! Every year when we check zinc levels in herds we see a huge variation in results – lots of herds don’t have their levels high enough to provide adequate protection, and the occasional herd is actually giving toxic amounts, which is both a waste of money and can result in production losses.

Facial eczema management can be a fiddly concept to get consistently correct. Have a chat to us about your plan for the season, and we can help guide your monitoring and supplementation protocols to make sure you don’t see any production losses.

The pay-out’s looking reasonable, better make sure you get the most out of it over those summer/autumn months!

Facial Eczema – count your own farm and do zinc bloods

VetEnt accepts RuralCo cards – Save up to 15%Below is the discount available to RuralCo Cardholders

15%OFF

Pet Products:+ Flea & Worming Products+ Nutrition including Working

Dog Diets by the bag (Please note - Pallet and Half Pallet purchases are not included)

+ Grooming Products and Equipment

+ Toys & Treats

Pet Fees:+ Professional &

Surgical time+ Consultations+ Vaccinations

Commercial Products:+ Range of Applicators+ Feeder Bottles and Accessories+ Lube, Antiseptic and Disinfectant Products+ Hoof Knives, Picks, Rasps and Snips+ Drencher Guns, Probes and Accessories+ Calving Halters, Ropes and Chains+ Shoof Products+ Vaccinators+ Milk Replacer and Powders+ Ear Tags

Large Animal Afterhours call outs

15%OFF

Mileage out to farm

15%OFF

Consumables

10%OFF

7.5%OFF

5%OFF

Monthly Reminders.+ Do you know the body condition score your herd going into summer?

- If not consider getting one of our techs or vets to do a mob score or an individual score

+ Do you have a high non-return rate? - Consider phantom scanning to detect non-returning empty cows

+ Lepto vaccination for calves, heifers and cows will due soon

+ We are currently booking pregnancy testing jobs, so look forward to a call from one of our friendly vet team members

www.vetent.co.nz

VET ENT ENT

Each prize contains one each of Stihl products: SH 56 Petrol Vacuum/Blower RRP $545 FS 55 R Petrol Linetrimmer RRP $495 MS 180 14” Petrol Chainsaw RRP $395 Chainsaw Safety Function Chaps RRP $199

PROUDLY AVAILABLE FROM YOUR PARTICIPATING VET CLINIC. * Fleece Master available in Otago region only

Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health New Zealand Limited. Level 3, 2 Osterley Way, Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand. Eprinex®, Cyranzin® , Eclipse®, Matrix®, Iver Matrix®, Fleece Master® is a registered trademark of the Boehringer Ingelheim Group. Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act. 1997 | No. A010801, No. A010635, No. A009270, No. A011151, No. A010132, No. A009544, No. A007849 ©Copyright 2020 Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health New Zealand Limited. All rights reserved. NZ-CAP-0002-2020.

Spend at least $500 on any qualifying Boehringer-Ingelheim Drench to enter

Promotion closes: North Island 31/12/20 - Canterbury 31/1/21- Otago 28/02/21 The promotors are Veterinary Enterprises Group and Boehringer-Inglelheim