Looking ahead – animal health planning

Potential animal health issues, tasks to consider and reminders for this month include…

Facial eczema:

From 12^th January we will start monitoring spore counts from grass samples taken from a number of monitor farms scattered throughout the Manawatu, Tararua, Horowhenua and Taumaranui regions. Check out our Facial Eczema Bulletin, Facial eczema – all you need to know and Facial eczema risk for more information.

Dairy

Autumn calving herds:

Setting late lactation cows up for drying off – minimising metabolics and mastitis risk:
- Trim tails, check mineral levels, keep supplementing calcium and selenium, and keep teat spraying. Calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg) and selenium (Se) are required for immune function, teat canal closure and cow health. We can check mineral levels by testing 10 blood samples. It is best and easiest to correct deficiencies during lactation and when cows aren’t under any pressure. Cows should still be getting supplemented with calcium. Too many cows have low Se, Ca and P levels in late lactation. Mg could be too high or too low.

Dry cow therapy (DCT) and/or internal teat sealant (ITS):
- If you’re after DCT and/or internal teat sealant ITS you will need to contact your primary veterinarian for a DCT consult as these products are restricted veterinary medicines (RVM’s) that have short authorisation periods not carried over from the last Springs RVM period. This will save any headaches of trying to access product at the front counter of your respective clinics without a current RVM authorisation.
- The latest SmartSAMM recommendations (Technote 14) is to give every cow something – a DCT product and/or an ITS to treat any infections and to reduce the risk of any new infections over the dry period. Check out Dry cow therapy for the autumn dry off for more information.

Teat sealing heifers:
- Looking to minimise calving mastitis in your heifers? January to February are months we can give you a hand with teatsealing them. Contact your local clinic for organising.

Spring calving herds:

Late mating cows and bulls:
- Some cows will still be getting mated. Some bulls will be sold. Any lame bull going to the works will require a veterinarian certificate and under this certificate they will have to go to the closest works.

Once a day (OAD) milking:
- This can be a time of year herds may go down to OAD milking (due to: slowing grass growth and feed shortages; summer lifestyle; afternoon heat stress walking to the milking shed and while in the yards during milking; building up body condition; extending lactation out; reducing lameness risk).
- For herds going to OAD think about the bulk milk somatic cell count (BMSCC). BMSCC’s can double in the 1^st 48 hours after going to OAD. This can stabilise over 7 – 10 days but there is a risk of grading if the BMSCC is already high prior to OAD. If the BMSCC is over 150,000 think about doing a herd test or a rapid mastitis test to identify high somatic cell count (SCC) cows. These cows can be continued to be milked twice a day or they can be removed from the herd – dried off or culled before the transition.
- Before going to OAD manage risk factors – stress and poor immune function. Make sure mineral levels are optimum (Ca, P, Se), aim to OAD before the cows are producing less than 1 kg milk solids/cow/day, milk in the morning to minimise afternoon heat stress, initially keep close to the shed to minimise walking distances, make sure there is good water access for all cows and keep feeding the cows enough of a well-balanced diet. Don’t forget about facial eczema. Rising spore counts can lead to stress, inflammation and a rising BMSCC.

BMSCC:
- For herds with a rising BMSCC check out Preventing BMSCC grading in late lactation for more information.

Pregnancy testing:
- Has your milking cow pregnancy testing been booked in.

Spring born calves:

Minimising post-weaning disease:
- For the later born beef calves we recommend a Multimin injection (to minimise post-weaning disease), a clostridial +/- leptospiral vaccination and a weaning drench. We recommend the oral combination Alleva drench products Turbo Initial (if coccidia a problem) or Turbo Advance as these can now be used in calves as low as 50kg.
- For earlier born replacement heifers make sure your clostridial and leptospiral vaccination booster dose is within 6 weeks of the sensitiser vaccination injection. If these calves haven’t had their Multimin injection – now’s the time. Can check 10 faecal samples for parasite eggs 1 month after the last drench to determine the requirement for a follow up drench. Recommend using the oral Alleva Turbo Advance drench until calves are too big to manage.

Keep an eye out for ill-thrifty, scouring calves or calves struggling to breathe and an ear out for coughing calves:
- Don’t leave them be. It pays to investigate – a vet visit or bringing in some faecal samples to check for parasitism or Yersinia for example. Lost production now going into a dry spell can take a long time to recover from, if at all, and can lead to poorly grown heifers at calving, which is common.

Sheep, beef and deer

Lambs:

Weaning is still happening for some, and shearing for others.

Worms and pneumonia:
- If January and February are hot summer months – watch out for mustering and pushing lambs too hard, yarding too tightly or for too long a period in hot dusty conditions. Equals ↑ pneumonia risk. Any situation that ↑ open mouth breathing in the lambs will ↑ pneumonia risk. The same applies to transporting lambs.
- Pneumonia plus worms can smash immune function and ↑ risk of death. Last year, when sheep farmers were dealing with Black Scour Worm issues from March onwards, we had periods where lambs were dying from a combination of worms and pneumonia. Controlling both as much as possible will ↓ the risk of deaths.
- Lambs might be going back onto pasture they were born on, which can increase parasite consumption risk – they may need a knock out drench with Zolvix or Startect earlier than those that don’t wean their lambs back onto lambing country.
- Start checking 10 faecal samples 10 days after a drench event to check how effective the drench has been and check 10 faecal samples 28 days after a drench event to check the requirement for a drench. Regular faecal egg counts (FEC’s) can help with: making the right drench choice; for checking how well the drench is working (a poorly effective drench will lead to poor productivity and growth in your lambs); for estimating climbing parasite challenge; and for working out if sheep require a drench event.
- If you are drenching for barbers pole check out the meat withhold before you drench. It’s frustrating if you accidentally dose a lamb not far off slaughter with a 56 day meat withhold drench product.

B12/selenium:
- Some lambs will be getting slaughtered. If you would like some liver B12 and selenium levels checked contact us. We can fill out a Mineral Check form on the phone (we just need some details), with copies passed to the trucking company and the works premises. Results will get emailed back to us for comment.
- Low B12 and/or selenium – supplement with Smartshot B12 +/- selenium.

Clostridial vaccine:
- Some lambs will be getting a sensitiser or booster dose of a clostridial vaccine. For best effect make sure the vaccination course is completed before lambs go onto high energy feeds. Watch out when using a vaccine product containing selenium. Some selenised vaccines are not suitable for smaller lambs and can cause death if accidentally administered.

Dying lambs:
- Don’t ignore! We can post-mortem some if they are dying (and we can get to the dead animal quick enough). The 4 main diseases that can kill lambs over the summer – worms, pneumonia, facial eczema and clostridial disease can generally be diagnosed quickly. They are diseases that can be minimised. We can teach you how to do a quick post-mortem to check lungs, liver, and gut.

Ewes:

Post-weaning checks:
- Time for uddering, mouthing and condition scoring ewes. Light ewes can be preferentially managed (extra feed, drench etc.) and reject ewes culled.

Pre-mating preparation:
- Toxovax & Campyvax vaccinations occurring and even Salvexin B vaccinations for Salmonellosis prevention, plus more farmers are supplementing ewes 4 weeks before mating with mineral products like Multimin Copper Free injection to improve fertility. Check out Improving sheep performance through vaccination and Salmonella in sheep for more information on vaccines and these diseases and check out Sheep Flock Productivity for more information on Multimin Copper Free injection.

Rams:

Pre-mating preparation:
- Don’t forget your rams. Check their teeth, body condition structural soundness and make sure they’ve been vaccinated to prevent clostridial disease as well. Book in your ram palpations and any vasectomy surgeries to prep rams for teasering. Check out Palpating the ram for more information.

All sheep:

Fly, barbers pole and facial eczema:
- All can be a problem this month. We already have a suspected case of barbers pole – lethargic ewe, pale, egg count > 3000. Watch for and prevent fly. With sporadic rain and warm weather fly, barbers pole and facial eczema risk all climb. Check out Barber’s Pole Worm for more information.