Milk fever and calving problems have been low this year, translating into low levels of endometritis found at metrichecking.
It is time to prepare for mating if you are not already- tail-painting and booking in why-wait and non-cycler calls.
We are offering an extra visit for a PG injection before the CIDR program, which can improve the syncrony of the cows on the CIDR program and can improve the conception rate of the program by 5%.
Please discuss this with your vet when booking a program to see if it's right for you. Book in for your free reproduction consult soon.
We can also offer free IBR testing through Agillis on your pre-mating bloods. IBR is known for nasal cattarh - snotty noses, with sticks up them. However, it can be transmitted sexually, and bulls becoming infected by cows carrying the disease can become infertile for a few weeks, as well as spreading it. Our strain in NZ is not known to cause abortion, but the temporary infertility in bulls and cows has the potential to impact the reproductive season. There is a vaccine, Hiprabovis, which covers BVD and IBR, we would recommend vaccinating youngstock - heifers before they come back into the herd - and bulls. Talk to us to see if you qualify for a deal on the vaccination.
Calves have been hit hard with Cryptosporidium or Rotavirus on some farms, while the older calves have been on grass long enough that coccidia and internal parasites will start to become issues seen. It only takes a week of grazing pasture for coccidia to potentially become a problem- faeces can contain mucous and blood and well as being loose, and worms tend to take a few weeks more, as more grass is eaten, but will depend on the pasture contamination.
Remember, we can do FEC in-house to see if your calves are due for a drench - just bring 10 fresh samples in.
