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The Muster- Andrew Cochrane: NS Vets · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The musters animal health segment with NS Vets.
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  Speaker 2: Adding value through practical advice and service.
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  Speaker 1: No gimmicks, no potions, total vet care. Andrew Cochran of
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  Speaker 1: NS Vets in Riversdale joins us once again. Cocky, good afternoon.
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  Speaker 1: We spoke to you, well, the last time we spoke
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  Speaker 1: to you was in September. We've moved on from that
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  Speaker 1: period now, thank goodness, although it's a correction in the
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  Speaker 1: weather today. How's the situation been on the ground?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's back to being with it. crisp isn't it
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  Speaker 2: it's almost a reminder of the horrible weather we had
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  Speaker 2: in september so we've had um yeah certainly a drop
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  Speaker 2: in temperatures strong winds dirty rain and hail this week
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  Speaker 2: um certainly and then the sun's shining at the moment
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  Speaker 2: so a real mix um of weather so i guess
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  Speaker 2: that's spring for you though eh.
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  Speaker 1: So you guys you've been busy the metro checking's come
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  Speaker 1: to an end but mating's just cranking in yeah i think.
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  Speaker 2: It's probably a day most vets look forward to the
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  Speaker 2: last metro check heard um which I think is behind
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  Speaker 2: us now. So I was just having a quick look
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  Speaker 2: this morning. We've metric checked more cows than we have
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  Speaker 2: in previous years this year, which is good. I think
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  Speaker 2: more farmers are looking at doing that as part of
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  Speaker 2: their routine spring health check. And look, the cows have
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  Speaker 2: been reasonably clean this year. Of the cows we've checked,
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  Speaker 2: we cured or treated 5%, which is a little bit
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  Speaker 2: behind last year and probably in line with what we
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  Speaker 2: sort of felt as we were out there metric checking
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  Speaker 2: the cows. there weren't the number of dirty cows, which
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  Speaker 2: is good. The risk factors for dirty cows tend to
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  Speaker 2: be sort of around calving problems. So if you've had
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  Speaker 2: a calf pulled by the farmer or by the vet,
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  Speaker 2: if they've retained membranes, if there's twins or dead calves born,
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  Speaker 2: and then obviously the normal stuff around body condition and
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  Speaker 2: nutrition as well. Yeah, there's a huge range and a
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  Speaker 2: huge variety between farms. I think our worst farm was
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  Speaker 2: close to 30% of cows were dirty, and they did
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  Speaker 2: have a tough spring with calving difficulties. And then we
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  Speaker 2: had quite a few farms that were below 2%. So
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  Speaker 2: a big range, but yeah, on track with sort of
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  Speaker 2: normal years or maybe slightly better.
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  Speaker 1: Just briefly, Andrew, describe metric checking for the uninitiated. Very
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  Speaker 1: much a dairying term.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, fair call. So what we're looking for is endometritis
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  Speaker 2: So uterine disease and infection, really. So we are checking
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  Speaker 2: for vaginal pus, ultimately. So we, during milking time, will
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  Speaker 2: be checking every cow during milking that has had a
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  Speaker 2: reasonable time post-carving to have recovered and to have gotten
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  Speaker 2: any infection under control. So as a general rule, if
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  Speaker 2: they've still got pus present two weeks post-carving, then we
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  Speaker 2: look to treat those cows and help them out.
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  Speaker 1: Coming into mating, how are the animals looking? How are
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  Speaker 1: the cows going?
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  Speaker 2: Certainly on a bit of a rising plane with the
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  Speaker 2: change in weather that we had and the ramp up
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  Speaker 2: in grass growth, which is good. We are flat out
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  Speaker 2: doing sort of the last of the heifer synchrony. So
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  Speaker 2: we've got a few heifers on feeder programs and a
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  Speaker 2: bunch of them getting second PG shots. So I believe
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  Speaker 2: on many farms heifer AI has started or about to
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  Speaker 2: start and bulls will be going out soon too. So
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  Speaker 2: that's flat out and I think in general heifers are
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  Speaker 2: looking pretty good. And we're also in the middle of
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  Speaker 2: starting non-cycler programs for dairy cows as well. So again,
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  Speaker 2: a bit of a mixed bag. We've got farmers with
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  Speaker 2: low numbers of non-cyclers and other farmers with reasonably high numbers.
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  Speaker 2: The advice from vets is the same as normal. The
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  Speaker 2: best return on your investment is looking at synchrony programs
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  Speaker 2: to get those cows cycling. The beauty of the synchrony
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  Speaker 2: programs now is they start with a PG shot. So
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  Speaker 2: that tends to take care of any silent heats that
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  Speaker 2: you've missed. Those cows will respond to a PG and
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  Speaker 2: can be removed from the program. And for the true non-cyclers,
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  Speaker 2: we continue with a seeder program and we tend to
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  Speaker 2: get reasonable results from that.
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  Speaker 1: Beef cattle side of life, the bulls are due to
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  Speaker 1: go out shortly.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, not a mile away. For some, it might still
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  Speaker 2: feel like a wee bit. There'll be still cows calving
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  Speaker 2: out there, but we are starting to have those conversations.
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  Speaker 2: So we've got a bunch of beef farms on synchrony
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  Speaker 2: programs for AI. So there's been a wee bit of
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  Speaker 2: an increased uptake this year. Whether that's a reflection of
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  Speaker 2: bull prices, it may well be. And so there's some
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  Speaker 2: quite good return on investment there where people are prepared to,
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  Speaker 2: you know, to put in the work there and those
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  Speaker 2: extra yardings to get cows synchronised. I think there's certainly
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  Speaker 2: gains to be made through AOA programmes and beef cows,
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  Speaker 2: and we have seen a slight increase in that. So
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  Speaker 2: we're busy putting those programmes together and some of those
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  Speaker 2: programmes are starting next week. And bull testing. So... certainly
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  Speaker 2: something worth considering particularly where we've got teams of older
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  Speaker 2: bulls or more extensive country where the bulls are expected
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  Speaker 2: to do quite a bit of work to find the
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  Speaker 2: cows on heat so both service testing where we're assessing
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  Speaker 2: the bulls ability to mount the cow and get the
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  Speaker 2: job done and semen testing as well so certainly services
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  Speaker 2: that we do at this time of year that I
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  Speaker 2: think are worthwhile particularly in some circumstances and then finally
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  Speaker 2: in that beef space still doing quite a bit of
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  Speaker 2: BVD testing, exposure testing. So testing replacement heifers for BVD,
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  Speaker 2: making sure that they're coming through clear as a general
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  Speaker 2: sort of monitoring tool and bull testing as well. So
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  Speaker 2: a reminder for everyone out there that all your bulls
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  Speaker 2: should be BVD tested and vaccinated. And that's across the
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  Speaker 2: dairy and beef space. A huge risk if you're bringing
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  Speaker 2: in a bull with BVD into your herd.
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  Speaker 1: From bovine, we slip over to the ovine sector as
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  Speaker 1: far as tailing, getting tidied up for a lot of people,
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  Speaker 1: especially on the lower-lying farms. And all of a sudden,
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  Speaker 1: drench use comes into the equation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the conversation to start on the shift from tailing,
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  Speaker 2: you're right, and into pre-weaning drenches and what products we
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  Speaker 2: should be using. I guess the advice there, as always,
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  Speaker 2: is a drench that works. And if you don't know
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  Speaker 2: what drenches work, you need to be testing that. So
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  Speaker 2: if you're doing a pre-weaning drench, that is a good
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to test whether or not that drench has worked,
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  Speaker 2: because that can then shape your decision with that weaning drench,
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  Speaker 2: which is arguably the most important drench. So some good
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  Speaker 2: discussion is happening there. Ultimately, that discussion and that advice
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  Speaker 2: is really tailored to the farm. So there's not really
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  Speaker 2: general advice to be given, other than you should be
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  Speaker 2: using a drench that works. And if you don't know,
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  Speaker 2: that's probably at least a triple. And then... When to
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  Speaker 2: drench is the next best question. So there's been a
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  Speaker 2: real shift to doing this pre-weaning drench, and that sort
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  Speaker 2: of came about from, you know, lambs were traditionally being
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  Speaker 2: weaned post-Christmas, post-New Year, and we were finding lambs getting
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  Speaker 2: wormy in that December period. Now we're finding a lot
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  Speaker 2: of farms are weaning earlier, and so we're weaning in
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  Speaker 2: early December, and yet that pre-weaning drench has remained for
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  Speaker 2: many farms, which often is a matter of convenience done
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  Speaker 2: a month before weaning. So if you're weaning in early
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  Speaker 2: December and considering a pre-weaning drench in early November, we're
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  Speaker 2: actually getting pretty early now and the need for that
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  Speaker 2: drench may have disappeared. That's going to depend farm to
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  Speaker 2: farm and what time you're lambing. Those early mobs may
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  Speaker 2: indeed benefit from a drench, but we are finding some
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  Speaker 2: of those early drenches are unnecessary and that you get
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  Speaker 2: away with just doing the first drench at weaning again,
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  Speaker 2: especially if you're early December. However, we've got tools to
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  Speaker 2: monitor that, recommend doing fecal egg counting We are seeing
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  Speaker 2: some people get away from the drench at weaning, and
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  Speaker 2: so they might just be given that first drench two
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  Speaker 2: weeks before weaning, which then means that at the weaning draft,
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  Speaker 2: lambs are outside of withhold. They can just be drafted,
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  Speaker 2: no drench required, and we bring them back in before
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  Speaker 2: Christmas for another drench. So something to discuss with your vet,
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  Speaker 2: something to challenge yourselves on. Do the lambs need that
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  Speaker 2: drench now, or can we wait? And fecally counting is
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  Speaker 2: a really good tool to monitor that.
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  Speaker 1: For sure, drench resistance and everything, an ongoing issue for
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people. If anybody wants to get in
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  Speaker 1: touch with the team at Northern South Invest, because there's
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  Speaker 1: only 24 hours in the day, but you're busy, but
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  Speaker 1: they want some advice, Andrew, where do they call?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so 032025636 here in Riversdale and 032497039 for the
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  Speaker 2: team in Te Anau. As we said, we're still fairly
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  Speaker 2: busy with all this hypersynchrony and non-cycle programmes with the
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  Speaker 2: dairy guys, so a lot of the time I think
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  Speaker 2: you'll be leaving a message. but we'll certainly do our
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  Speaker 2: best to get back in touch with you.
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  Speaker 1: Good on you, Andrew. All the best out there.
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  Speaker 2: Awesome. Cheers, Andy.
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Cochran of NSVETS, official animal health advisors here to
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  Speaker 1: the muster. Michelle, what is up next in the Country Crossover?