Veterinary Health Centre Opotiki & Whakatane

02/02/2024

We’ve had a deceased puppy bought into our Opotiki Clinic this morning. No microchip, male, tan & white and wearing a collar but no tags. Found on Wellington/St John St intersection. If you think he may be yours please call our Opotiki clinic 07 315 8474. We will hold for 7 days before burying.

15/01/2024

SPORE COUNTS 26TH JANUARY 2024:

Welcome to our weekly spore count update, where each week this pinned post will display the current spore counts for the Whakatane and Opotiki districts.

Spore counts are taken from randomly selected sites on our regular monitor farms - although this may be subject to changes dependent on weather, grazing and reliability of results.

If using zinc boluses, consider administering these in all areas. For all areas below 15,000, consider introducing quarter to half doses of zinc slowly to troughs. All other areas should slowly increase to full doses.

If you would like to check the spore counts on your property, feel free to bring in a grass sample for in-house testing. We will need a small bag full (around 100gms) of grass cut well below grazing height. Refrigerate if not bringing in your sample immediately.

A reminder of toxic spore levels:
Cattle: 30,000
Sheep: 80,000
Alpaca: 10,000

HOWEVER, it is important to remember that even prolonged low levels of spores in pasture can have a cumulative effect, so early prevention is key!

06/12/2023

Yesterday a couple of our vet and tech staff were able to head over to Hamilton to attend a fantastic workshop run by WelFarm NZ.

They heard from a range of vets, farmers and industry experts, including our very own Tai herself, on the benefits of the Welfarm programme and the future of the NZ dairy industry 🐄.

We are excited to take this programme further and create more opportunities to support our farmers in reaching their goals! ✨

31/10/2023

ATTENTION FARMERS (AND HOBBY FARMERS):

It's that time of year again... Surfing For Farmers is upon us! At VHC, we are proud to be one of the "local legends" who sponsor this weekly session in Ohope. 🏄‍♀️🏄‍♂️

Location: West End Ohope
Dates: Every Tuesday from 7th November into March/April next year.
Time: 5:30pm

Register online, come along and make use of the awesome surf instructors, plus enjoy some great tucker! 🌭

09/10/2023

🐾 It's Vet Nurse and Technician Awareness Week! 🩺

Let's take a moment to appreciate the incredible vet nurses and technicians who work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep our furry friends healthy and happy. 🐶🐱

From providing comfort to our pets during exams to carrying out routine procedures on farms and assisting in life-saving surgeries, these often unsung heroes play a crucial role in animal healthcare.

Next time you are at your local vets or see technicians out on farm, show them some appreciation with a heartfelt thank you! 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️

01/10/2023

Kids bored these school holidays?

Have a go at this fun boredom-busting competition run by WelFarm NZ! 🐄

Want to win a Prize?

🌟 Calling All Young Artists!🌟
We're thrilled to announce our Farm-themed Kid's Coloring Adventure! It's time to pick up your crayons, markers, and coloured pencils and let your imagination run wild!
To enter, simply post a photo of your masterpiece in the comments below.
👍 Make sure to follow our page and like this post for a chance to win cool prizes!

All entries must be in by 5 p.m. on 10.11.2023

Let us know your email to send you a copy

https://www.welfarm.co.nz/colouring-competition-terms-and-conditions/

23/09/2023

What a great write up about one of our farm clients who are in their third season as a part of the Welfarm programme 🐄

Janet Poihipi has been able to utilise their WelFarm results to help the trustees prioritise improvements, such as bringing in more feed to increase body condition scores and doing some work on the races to help minimise lameness challenges

22/09/2023

🐾🌼 Embracing Mental Health Week: A Lesson from Our Furry Friends 🌼🐾

Mental Health Week is here, and let's face it, life can be a bit ruff sometimes! 🐶 But fear not, our furry friends have some hilarious life lessons to share:

1️⃣ Unconditional Love: Ever seen a dog celebrate like they just won the lottery when you return home, even if you were only gone for five minutes? Let's embrace that self-love and throw ourselves a party for every small achievement. 🎉

2️⃣ Mindfulness: Cats are the masters of living in the moment...unless there's a laser pointer involved. 😼 Let's try to stay as focused as a cat stalking that elusive red dot, but with a bit more success!

3️⃣ Connection: Have you ever seen penguins huddle together for warmth? Reach out to your human flock and share some warmth this week. 🐧❤️

4️⃣ Exercise: Remember, a sloth's idea of a workout is stretching for a leaf! 🌿 Let's not be sloths and get moving like a squirrel on a caffeine high.

Here at VHC, we have embraced Mental Health Week wholeheartedly, finishing up the week with a clinic “m***i day” - and what an interesting choice of m***i for our Anneke!

02/06/2023

MEET THE TEAM PROFILE #13

Kate is affectionately referred to as our ‘crazy cat lady!’🐈. She is one of our fantastic vet nurses in Whakatane and despite being one of the youngest members of our nursing team, Kate is well-loved by all small animal clients, and has quickly become a highly valued member of staff.

Kate has a special interest in laboratory work and enjoys examining specimens under the microscope 🔬. She also enjoys the challenge of finding the right nutrition plan for every animal, and has a lot of knowledge about all of our available diets! 🐶

True to her reputation, Kate has her own little fur-family, but also enjoys spending time with her two-legged family at the beach 🏖, or at weekly quiz night! ✨

01/06/2023

Happy Moo-ving Day to all our dairy farmers! 🐄

Welcome to winter! Moo-ving day is here, and that means spring calving is just around the corner! Remember to update your farm's details of new managers, sharemilkers or workers for the 2023-24 season when you are in the clinics next.

If you're new to the area we would love to meet you, so swing by our Whakatane or Opotiki clinics for a chat next time you're in town! ✨

08/05/2023

MEET THE TEAM PROFILE #12

Tai is our resident “ray of sunshine” 🌞, and lifestyle block guru! She returned to the BOP after graduating university 🎓 as a veterinary technologist and works in both the Whakatane and Opotiki clinics.

As one of our senior techs, Tai does a huge variety of on-farm work, lab work, and is also our resident small animal physiotherapist; and as if that didn’t keep her busy enough, she also coordinates our clinic lifestyle block and Welfarm programmes.

Tai is known by many for her efficiency, reliability, and great attitude. Her favourite part of her job is the variety of work, getting out and about🚗, and sharing banter with dairy and lifestyle clients.

Tai is kept busy outside of the clinic by her work as a volunteer firefighter 👩‍🚒. She also enjoys riding her horses 🐴, trying new things (latest on the list are hockey and surfing!), and going to the gym – we suspect she doesn’t spend much time sleeping…! ✨

07/05/2023

SUNDAY STAFF STORIES:

We have had a busy few weeks with the beginning of our dry period! Our tech team have been out and about all over the district drying off hundreds of cows each week, with many more to come! 🐄

Our team guarantee the three Q's - Quantity, Quality, and Quickly! Because we run teams of technicians, we can get through larger mobs or even herds without running out of steam! We provide gold standard service and abide by the strictest hygiene measures, whilst also getting through the numbers in significantly less time than farmers having to dry off themselves.

And we do it all with a smile on our face! Kate here perfectly demonstrating a "way too happy" expression 😁 for somebody at the end of a long day on farm!

03/05/2023

PATIENT OF THE MONTH:

Odin first presented to us late 2022 as a ten-week-old pup 🐶 who couldn't stand or walk on his hind legs. He is very lucky to have had a foster family (turned permanent family!) who put in a lot of effort despite Odin's guarded prognosis, to help return some of his mobility.

Odin started physiotherapy late last year to assist with building up some more muscle mass 💪 and increasing stability in his hind legs. Since then, he has improved in leaps and bounds, even hitting several milestones which we didn't think possible at one stage! He can now run (when he feels like it), jump up onto couches (and beds...), is able to go for much longer walks, and is our first ever physio patient to master balancing on the "dreaded red peanut" 🥜! Not easy for a gangly teenage rottweiler!

Huge gold star for this superstar pup ⭐, who along with his family has proved that putting in the effort with rehabilitation can return results that seem impossible! 🐾

01/05/2023

MEET THE TEAM PROFILE #11

Carolyn is one of our favourite “clinic mums”. She works part-time in our Whakatane clinic and is always highly sought-after by small animal clients! In addition, she also juggles motherhood, sports 🎾 and a demanding role on the community board – a woman of many talents!

Having a keen interest in dermatology, Carolyn is our go-to for any tricky skin cases🔬! She loves the challenge of finding treatments that work well for each animal she sees, and we are lucky to have her.

Fun fact: Carolyn is the mastermind behind our clinic social hockey team and is a force to be reckoned with out on the field! 🏑

22/04/2023

MEET THE TEAM PROFILE #10

Jodi is another of our fabulous admin staff, and she spends most of her time greeting you and answering phones 📞 at the front desk in Opotiki.

She has a truly varied background, having worked as a hairdresser ✂, in the mines, and has experience in dairy farming – so fits in well with our many dairy farmers! Jodi is also known for taking great care of her team – she’s always cooking up morning tea or bringing in goodies 🍰to keep us going during the busy season.

Jodi is another sucker for a cute face, and since starting with us has accumulated a number of furry new additions to her family! It’s also not uncommon to see Jodi walking her miniature pony Jake 🐴 to work with her, as he is an excellent lawnmower during the day and keeps our grass down!

20/04/2023

We are very happy to have been able to sponsor the New Zealand Police Managers' Guild Trust with their fantastic work around our rural communities - these guys do some fantastic work! 🚔👮‍♀️👮‍♂️

Farms can be an exciting place for children to grow up, but they can also pose various safety hazards.

In NZ, statistics reveal that farm-related accidents are among the leading causes of injury and death for children under the age of 15. In particular, gun safety, fire safety and power line safety are crucial areas to consider.

Guns are common on many farms in NZ, and children are naturally curious about them. According to a 2018 report by the NZ Police, there were 61 incidents involving fi****ms and children in the past 10 years.

To ensure that children are safe around fi****ms, parents and caregivers must teach them about gun safety. Guns should always be stored unloaded and in a secure location, with ammunition stored separately. Children should be taught to never point a gun at themselves or anyone else.

Fires can be devastating on farms, where there is often a lot of dry material that can easily catch fire. In NZ, 44% of farm fires occur in barns and 30% in houses, according to the NZ Fire Service.

Children should be taught to never play with matches or lighters, and to report any fire or smoke they see immediately. All buildings on the farm should have working smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.

Power lines are another safety hazard on farms. There have been several cases of children being electrocuted on farms due to contact with power lines.

Children should be taught to never touch or climb on power lines or utility poles, and to stay away from them altogether. Parents and caregivers should ensure that all electrical equipment on the farm is properly grounded and that children are kept away from electrical hazards.

For more on child safety https://pmgt.org.nz/child-safety/

Thank you to Rainbow Septic Tank Cleaners Limited and Veterinary Health Centre Opotiki & Whakatane for sponsoring our organisation.

06/04/2023

MEET THE TEAM PROFILE #9

Bex is our nurse old-timer and has been at VHC for a number of years now! Back in the day, Bex used to manage as our only vet nurse in Whakatane – how she did it we will never know! We suspect she is secretly sporting extra limbs 🐙 to get all those jobs done!

We can always count on Bex to remember birthdays and events 📅, and she is known for keeping our work area s***k and span!

Bex also has two young boys who keep her busy, and in her time off she likes to play sport and spend time with her family 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦.

05/04/2023

Just a friendly reminder we are closed the public holidays over Easter.

Both clinics are open 9am-12pm Saturday 8th April.

We are closed Friday 7th April, Sunday 9th AND Monday 10th April.

We are available for emergencies all weekend.

20/03/2023

HORSE DENTALS:

We got a great action shot of our equine expert Chris performing a dental examination and treatment on this lovely mare last week 🦷.

Because we can’t brush our horse’s teeth 🪥 or see see inside their mouths without specialised equipment, it can be easy to miss when they need a visit to the dentist! Common signs include discomfort when bridled, half-chewed food falling out of the mouth and a loss of body condition.

We offer a variety of routine and non-routine dental services for horse owners, have facilities available on request to accomodate equines of all sizes, and we can guarantee a quick and efficient job 🐴.

16/03/2023

MEET THE TEAM PROFILE #8

Anna is another of our predominantly small animal vets, but she covers large animal afterhours emergencies and farm calls when needed. Anna is a firm favourite of many small animal clients, and is known for her fantastic attention to detail. ✨

Anna lives on a lifestyle block with her family (she got a bit carried away with four kids🚸 !) and a small menagerie of animals including sheep, cattle, cats and whatever else happens to be lurking around the property at any stage. 🐄 🐑

As if she isn’t kept busy enough with her jam-packed lifestyle, Anna also enjoys keeping active with hockey🏑, soccer⚽ and other sports. She is also known for her pranks and great sense of humour!

15/03/2023

What a day! ☀️

Vet tech Tai got to enjoy this view while out on farm Body Condition Scoring this week. 🐄

Body Condition Scoring (BCS) is a great tool in late lactation to help with making dry-off decisions. We have multiple certified BCS assessors who can accurately score either mobs in the paddock, or a full herd at milking, and provide reports to you complete with recommendations.

If you are interested in getting your herd scored, get in touch today. ✨

03/03/2023

MEET THE TEAM PROFILE #7

Lizzie is now our longest-standing vet nurse in Opotiki! She moved to the BOP from Auckland and hasn’t looked back once! Lizzie manages most of the small animal supplies, but also looks after the phones, consult bookings and nursing.

Lizzie is well-loved by staff and clients alike for her warm, caring nature and easygoing attitude.

As a self-professed sucker for puppies and kittens, Lizzie is kept extremely busy looking after whichever foster animals she might have on the go at once – she’s a real-life angel 👼

21/02/2023

SPORE COUNTS 12th May 2023 (FINAL UPDATE)

Welcome to our weekly spore count update, where each week this pinned post will display the current spore counts for the Whakatane and Opotiki districts.

As spore counts have decreased significantly and suddenly, we are now able to cease spore count monitoring for the season. All areas should be able to start gradually decreasing zinc supplementation if not already.

Spore counts are taken from randomly selected sites on our regular monitor farms - although this may be subject to changes dependent on weather, grazing and reliability of results.

If you would like to check the spore counts on your property, feel free to bring in a grass sample for in-house testing at $15 per sample. We will need a small bag full (around 100gms) of grass cut below grazing height. Refrigerate if not bringing in your sample immediately.

A reminder of toxic spore levels:
Cattle: 30,000
Sheep: 80,000
Alpaca: 10,000

HOWEVER, it is important to remember that even prolonged low levels of spores in pasture can have a cumulative effect, so early prevention is key!

20/02/2023

HELP THE ANIMALS AFFECTED BY CYCLONE GABRIELLE

We have had a few queries from our lovely clients regarding how they can help animals impacted by the devastating events of last week💔. The current advice from MPI, SPCA, HUHA and other organizations working to care for the hundreds of animals impacted is to donate money, not items, at this stage, as large volumes of donated goods will take too long to reach their destination and it is difficult to assess where needs lie most with these.

If you would like to support the animals of Hawkes Bay, you can donate directly to the team at HUHANZ using the instructions below:

$3 texts
TEXT ‘HUHA‘ TO 4463 TO DONATE $3

OR

Internet banking
Make your deposit to HUHA’s ANZ bank account:
Huha Charitable Trust
06 0529 0764 879 00

Contact HUHA
[email protected]
(04)3923232

20/02/2023

MEET THE TEAM PROFILE #6

Bridget is our business manager and our ‘make it happen’ wonder woman 🦸‍♀️! Having worked here at VHC for a lengthy period, she is the glue that holds the clinics together some days! Many of you will know Bridget as an on-farm technician, but she also wears her clinic business manager hat as well as helping out with small animal nursing from time to time.

Bridget and her other half manage a sheep 🐑and beef 🐮station down the coast in addition to her other roles, and in her (minimal!) spare time, she loves to ride her horses, hunt and fish.

Fun fact about Bridget: she has had over 10 years of experience working as a casual musterer, shepherd, and sheep/beef farm manager!

16/02/2023

We are extremely excited to announce our partnership with Harmony & Hope Animal Rescue Trust to bring you $30 snip ‘n’ chips for cats in the Whakatāne area!

All surgeries are by appointment only - visit the Harmony and Hope website for more details 🐾

We are happy to announce $30 snip & chip for cats in the Whakatane District!
Link to find out more and apply: https://www.hhar.org.nz/desexing-subsidy/

30/01/2023

BARBER’S POLE WORM IN YOUR STOCK:

This handsome fella is Champ 🐏. Champ is a smaller male lamb who was feeling under the ‘wether’ while our vet tech Tai while she was out for a routine lifestyle block visit.

Champ had low energy levels, loose stools and as you can see in photo number 2; he had very pale, almost white gums and mucous membranes!

Poor Champ was suffering from a serious case of Barber’s Pole, a parasitic worm which feeds on the blood of it’s host. The worm itself is very tiny, but under a microscope looks just like the colours of a barber’s pole 💈, hence the name! This parasite is prolific around this time of year, and we have seen quite a few cases already.

The only way to diagnose this is based on typical clinical signs, and through a faecal egg count, which involves counting the number of worm eggs passed in faeces under a microscope 🔬.

Champ, and all of his mates, were treated with an oral First Drench for lambs, and was given a B12 injection 💉 to boost his energy levels.

If you suspect your lambs, goat kids, or other stock may be at risk, speak to one of our vet techs for advice ✨

27/01/2023

Come find our team at the Farming Like Grandad country fair this weekend!

Lots of interactive displays, kids games and giveaways to be won 🙌

https://www.facebook.com/farminglikegrandad?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Event

20/01/2023

MEET THE TEAM PROFILE #5

Having worked at VHC during her high school years, we were able to snag Ash back once she completed her veterinary degree – luckily for us! Ashley works as a mixed animal veterinarian across both clinics and has a keen interest in orthopaedics 🦴.

Ashley is known for her easygoing attitude and her ability to go from great banter with her dairy farmers, to compassionate small animal vet. Ash is well-loved across both clinics by staff and clients alike!

Ash loves pushing her body to the absolute limits – in her spare time you can find her on her mountain bike 🚲, out for a run, or planning her next adventure in the bush 🌳.

16/01/2023

FACIAL ECZEMA:

It's that time of year again for farmers and lifestylers alike to start thinking about facial eczema prevention in your stock!

What is facial eczema: Facial eczema is a disease caused by the spores of a fungus which grows best during the late summer to autumn period (usually early January to May). The onset of the facial eczema season is brought-on by humid and moist weather 🌦. Facial eczema affects cattle, sheep and alpaca. 🐄🐏🦙

What does it look like: Facial eczema can be either clinical (visible signs) or subclinical (no visible signs or decreased production). In the clinical form, you will see photosensitivity and skin damage (acute facial eczema). This is the form which most people are aware of. The subclinical form will cause liver damage, in which case you may not see any obvious signs of disease (chronic facial eczema), but animals will have reduced production and fertility.

How do I prevent it: Treating animals with zinc is the only method of prevention. You can either use long-acting zinc boluses directly into the stomach such as Faceguard (our recommended option!), or many dairy farmers choose to dose cattle daily via water treatment or even in feed.

How do I know when to start/stop zinc dosing: At VHC, we regularly perform weekly spore counts around the region to calculate the facial eczema risk. Farmers and lifestylers will automatically receive weekly updates of these spore counts throughout the season.