NCVC Lifestyle Farming

02/01/2025

🌞🐾 Get Your Pets Summer-Ready! 🐾🌞
With the warmer weather and summer holidays upon us, it's the perfect time to make sure your furry friends are ready for the heat and all the fun that comes with it! Whether you're heading away on holiday or staying home, there are a few important things to keep in mind to keep your pets safe and comfortable this summer.
The New Zealand Veterinary Association has produced this handy Summer Pet Checklist! ✔️ It's packed with tips and advice to help you prepare your pets for the warmer weather, and make sure they’re looked after while you’re away!
👉 Things to think about:
• 🌡️ Keeping your pet cool and hydrated in the heat
• 🏖️ Arranging pet care if you're going on holiday
• 🐕 Ensuring your pet is protected from pests and parasites
Download and check off the list to make sure you’ve got all the bases covered for a stress-free and safe summer for both you and your pets. 💖

27/12/2024

Foot rot in cattle

Footrot is an infection of the interdigital tissue of the foot, most often caused by the bacteria Fusobacterium necrophorum. A penetrating injury to the foot enables the bacteria to enter, causing an acute infection.

How to spot footrot: Cattle with foot rot will be lame. There is often swelling which tracts up the leg. Commonly, stones are found between the claws.

This is a painful condition. Please contact your vet if you have any lame animals. The prognosis for this condition is generally good if treated early and appropriately.

Whilst foot rot is clearly a welfare concern, it also has detrimental impacts on production (such as daily live weight gain and milk yield) as well as fertility. Bulls with foot rot will have impaired fertility for up to 6 weeks after successful treatment so this is an important consideration during the breeding season.

Risk factors for foot rot include: grazing stubble or stalky crops and grazing cows in wet conditions.

24/12/2024

From us all at North Canterbury Vets - thank you so much for your support during this challenging year. It is a privilege to help you look after your animals and we look forward to being of service into 2025. Our very best wishes for a fab Christmas and New Year!

19/12/2024

Checking your sheep’s feet
Lameness in sheep is commonly due to issues associated with the foot. It is important to know what a normal, healthy foot looks like in order to be able to identify and treat problems.
Checking your flock’s feet regularly, every 3-6 months is important for identifying abnormalities. Lame sheep must be checked immediately. Pay close attention to the outer wall, coronary band, toe, sole and skin between the toes. Any bleeding, pus, bad smell, swelling, heat or redness needs to be addressed.
Trimming can be a useful tool for treating certain conditions such as shelly hoof (where the wall of the horn peels away from the sole) but if not done carefully, it can also cause issues. Trimming to the sensitive tissue can lead to bleeding, this can cause infection, conditions such as toe granuloma and can permanently affect the growth pattern of the horn leading to chronic lameness. Trimming can also spread infections such as footrot between sheep so it is best to avoid trimming in these cases.
Be cautious when trimming feet, do not over-trim and make sure foot trimmers are kept clean and disinfected.
If you have any questions about trimming and when it is appropriate or have lame sheep that you are struggling to treat, get in touch with us.

12/12/2024

🚨 Vet Visit Update: Kune Kune Pig Recovering After Aspiration Pneumonia 🚨
Meet Georgie’s recent patient: a sweet Kune Kune pig who was struggling with a severe case of pneumonia. 🐷 When she arrived, the pig was lethargic, refusing food, had increased breathing effort, and a dangerously high temperature.
After some careful investigation, we discovered that the pig’s owner had recently switched her feed to a very dusty mash. The pigs would often get excited at feeding time, leading to a lot of playful energy—and unfortunately, a lot of dust flying into the air. The owner had also noticed some coughing during feeding, which pointed us in the direction of aspiration pneumonia—a lung infection caused when food, liquid, or even saliva is inhaled into the lungs instead of being properly swallowed. 😷
Luckily, after a visit and treatment with antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and some energy supplements, this pig is now back on her feet and feeling much better! 🐷💪 Here’s a snap of her enjoying a banana 🍌 and looking happy and healthy again! 🐖💕
⚠️ Important Tip for All Animal Owners: If you are feeding your animals a dusty feed or mash, we highly recommend mixing it with some water to create a slurry. This helps reduce airborne particles and keeps your animals’ lungs safe.

05/12/2024

Are you thinking about when you should be weaning your calves?
When calves are born their main stomach is their abomasum, this is similar to a persons stomach and is what allows them to digest milk. In the first few weeks of life as they grow and eat grass and calf meal, their rumen begins to develop. In order to stop drinking milk and just survive on grass they need to have a well developed and functioning rumen.
We recommend that weaning calves off of milk is based on their weight and how much calf meal they are eating. Once they are able to eat about 1.5kg of meal a day, it is safe to start reducing their milk intake by 1L a week.
You should be aiming to wean them at weights of 80kg+ for smaller breed calves such as Jersey’s, and 100kg+ for larger breeds such as Friesians and beef breeds.

28/11/2024

Lifestyle Dispensary
For anyone new to the page or as a reminder for our regular clients, don’t forget we have a dispensary of products just for lifestyle clients! We can decant many animal health products such as vaccination, drench, fly and lice treatment into small quantities, so if you have 1, 2, 10 or 40 animals we can find the right product in small amounts for you! Give us a call to discuss any products you may need.

21/11/2024

Essential Facilities for Safe Animal Handling 🐄🐑
When working with large animals, having the right handling facilities is crucial for the safety of your animals, your vet, and you as the owner. Proper facilities make routine tasks—like vaccinations, drenching, and shearing—easier and safer, reducing the risk of injury.
You don’t always need to build everything yourself—consider borrowing equipment from a neighbour or investing in portable steelyards. Here’s a look at some of the basic facilities every farm should have:
🔹 Yard: A secure pen to safely hold animals during handling.
🔹 Race: A narrow passage with gates that helps guide animals in line and reduces stress.
🔹 Head-bail: A device to safely hold an animal’s head for exams and procedures.
🔹 Loading Ramp: A sloped ramp with slats to help animals safely board transport trucks.
These simple setups make all the difference in keeping things safe and efficient for everyone involved.

14/11/2024

05/11/2024

Selenium.
Are your horses getting the minerals they need from their diet?
Most soils in North Canterbury are deficient in several minerals. One of the most significant is the trace element selenium, a horse grazing selenium deficient soils without any additional supplementation will be selenium deficient.
Selenium deficiency can cause several health issues for your horse including:
- muscle soreness, stiffness and tying up
- poor skin and hoof condition
- Anxious or spooky behavoir
- reduced performance
- difficulty getting in foal
- white muscle disease.
Neonatal foals are particularly susceptible whilst developing in the womb and can be born with this potentially fatal condition.
Selenium levels can be easily measured by taking a blood sample and our vets can advise on the best course of action for supplementing your horse. It is important to assess a horse’s selenium status before starting supplementation as over-supplementing can lead to selenium toxicity.
If you would like to find out your horse’s selenium levels or have any further questions on selenium deficiency please get in touch, one of our vets would be happy to discuss this with you further.

31/10/2024

Cancer eye
Squamous cell carcinoma of the eye is a relatively common condition in New Zealand, often known as ‘cancer eye’. Cows can get cancerous lesions on their 3rd eyelid, conjunctiva and/or the eye itself. The disease is linked to exposure to UV light, with light faced breeds of cattle such as Herefords and Friesians most commonly affected.
Signs your cow may have cancer eye:
• Tear staining
• Closed eye
• Protruding reddened 3rd eyelid or conjunctiva
• Visible mass on the 3rd eyelid, conjunctiva or the eye
The condition is very painful. If untreated, the cancer will spread to the entire eye and lymph nodes. Early identification and prompt veterinary treatment are essential for managing these cases.

23/10/2024

Are you hatching chicks this spring?
Make sure your chicks have the best start to life by keeping your broody hen and hatching eggs somewhere isolated from the flock where they are warm and safe.
While your hen is broody she will only leave the nest once or twice a day and is at risk of malnutrition. Make sure she has close access to food.
Once the chicks hatch they need to be on a high quality chick starter feed to ensure they have an appropriate diet for growth and development. Layer pellets are not appropriate for chicks. Most chick starter feeds have a coccidiostat in them to reduce the risk of disease for the chicks. This does mean that if any laying birds have access to the chick starter their eggs cant be eaten as the coccidiostat is not safe for human consumption.
Make sure you check the bag of food to find out the egg withhold period.
Give your local clinic a call if you have any questions about raising chicks.

17/10/2024

Joint ill.

We have seen a few lambs and calves in the clinic and out on farm with swollen joints. Joint infections (or joint ill) are painful and can be difficult to resolve. Animals with joint ill may be lame and/or have swollen joints which may feel hot to the touch. They may have a fever which can in turn cause them to lose their appetite. Joint infections can occur from wounds, but more commonly the infection starts in the navel and travels through the bloodstream to the joints. For this reason, it is very important to ensure that navels are clean and free of infection. Spraying animals’ navels at birth with iodine and keeping a close eye for any infected navels can prevent joint infections from occurring. If you notice a lame calf or lamb or swelling of the joints, contact North Canterbury Vets so we can start prompt treatment.

10/10/2024

Horse Parasite Monitoring 🦄🪱💩

As we start moving into spring, it’s essential to focus on your horse’s health! 🌱 Bring in your manure samples for FEC (F***l Egg Count) testing. Fresh samples are best, but if you can’t drop them off at the clinic the same day, feel free to store them in the fridge overnight for drop-off the next day.

Simply pick up some poo, place it in a bag labelled with your horse’s name, and we’ll take care of the rest. Testing every 12 weeks helps you monitor worm burdens and make informed decisions about deworming, ensuring your horses stay healthy as they enjoy the warmer weather.

25/09/2024

Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) is a disease that can cause poor growth in calves as well as poor fertility in cows. It is able to infect the calf during pregnancy leading to permanently infected animals from birth. Despite the name, diarrhoea is not always a clinical sign and the disease weakens the animal’s immune system, making pneumonia and parasite infections more likely and serious. Any animals lagging behind the group should be tested. Testing can be performed using ear tags or blood so contact your local clinic to discuss investigating whether BVD is affecting your stock