VetSouth

16/02/2025

Our Gore team cooked up some delicious lamb on the BBQ last Friday as an early celebration of National Lamb Day. Did you enjoy any lamb this weekend in support of our sheep farmers? 🍽️

14/02/2025

Happy National Lamb Day 🐑 We'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone involved in the sector, as put well by Beef + Lamb NZ , from paddock to plate - today is all about YOU. Today, we showcase the red meat sector’s success, its significant contribution to NZ’s economy and the hard work done by NZ farmers. Share this with your mates to help cement the day in NZ's calendars.

National Lamb Day dates back to a game-changing moment in history: February 15, 1882. On this day, the first shipment of frozen lamb left Port Chalmers, Otago, bound for London, marking the beginning of New Zealand’s meat export industry and putting our world-class, grass-fed lamb on the global map.

This February 15th, fire up the BBQ, gather your friends, and join us in raising a chop to history and our incredible food producers!



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13/02/2025

Ahead of National Lamb Day we want to further celebrate our sheep farmers - so come on down to VetSouth Gore or Tapanui tomorrow around lunch time and grab a snack and share a yarn with the team!

👉 Friday 14th February
👉 Lunchtime
👉 VetSouth Gore or Tapanui
👉 BBQ and celebrations

12/02/2025

Last spring we saw huge numbers of Salmonella cases in both sheep and cattle across Southland and South Otago as the wet weather persisted.

There are two main forms of the disease in sheep: enteric form and abortive form 🐑

Luckily, there is a vaccine available. Vet Kate explains more here:

This spring we saw huge numbers of Salmonella cases in both sheep and cattle. In sheep, there are two main forms of the disease – luckily, there is a vaccine available.

10/02/2025

Join Beef + Lamb New Zealand and our Gore based Vet Lisa for an interactive field day this Friday 14 February (Valentine's Day) - learning how to utilise your ram team by ensuring optimal health in the lead up to tupping and the best approach to reach your flocks genetic potential.

Registration is essential: https://beeflambnz.com/events/blnz-making-most-your-rams-workshop-utilising-your-ram-team-gore Morning tea and lunch provided.

EVENT CANCELLED:

REGISTER ONLINE NOW!
Join us for an interactive field day learning how to utilise your ram team by ensuring optimal health in the lead up to tupping and the best approach to reach your flocks genetic potential.
EVENT POSTONED - Tune in to our page for a new date announcement!

Are you taking the necessary steps to ensure your rams are up to the task in the lead up to mating?
Have you considered how feeding, vaccinating, and shearing may affect their performance?
Have you considered what rams you will use to mate your hogget’s, two-tooths and ewes?
A team of animal health and genetic experts will answer your questions and demonstrate best practice through a variety of interactive activities.
Learn how to select your best performance rams using Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics selection tool nProve and how to guide your future ram purchase decisions.

Morning Tea and Lunch Provided! Registration is essential https://beeflambnz.com/events/blnz-making-most-your-rams-workshop-utilising-your-ram-team-gore

08/02/2025

Now is the time to identify your ewes that can be maintained through to mating 🐑

These animals need 2% of their body weight in kg of dry matter (DM) each day, i.e. a 70kg ewe needs 1.4kgDM/day.

Animals that need to gain weight will need 3-3.5% of their weight in DM. That’s 2-2.5kgDM/day for a 70kg ewe. Get them to the required condition score (3-3.5), then drop them back to maintenance.

If you’re keen to get more accurate, you would measure requirements and feed in megajoules of metabolisable energy (MJME). We are happy to help with this, just give us a call 📞

05/02/2025

Want to WIN FREE entry into The VetSouth Gorge Adventure Race?

Get your team entered before this coming Monday the 10th of February and the organising team will draw out one team to WIN their entry fee back! 🥳

Enter your team here 👉 https://tinyurl.com/4n62kxzj
Entered already? See you there - you're already in the draw!

04/02/2025

Sometimes our vets are given a helping hand when they're out pregnancy scanning dairy cows. Sometimes it's a helping hoof... we aren't kidding! 🐐

02/02/2025

Our clinics will be closed this Thursday 6th February for Waitangi Day.

We will have vets available for emergencies, please call 0800 VETSOUTH (0800 838 76884).

31/01/2025

As kids head back to school we want to acknowledge and say a huge congratulations to the 2024 recipients of the VetSouth awards for excellence in science! 🎉

These hard-working students received these awards for their achievements across biology, chemistry and physics.

Layla Connorton - Māruawai College (pictured with Kerryn Gillan, VetSouth East Hub Manager)
Cormac Marron - Central Southland College
Daniel Van Rooyen - Blue Mountain College
Ka Hei (Sabrina) Chan - St Peter's College,

We can't wait to see who will receive these awards this year...

29/01/2025

Have you got VetSouth pregnancy scanning your herd or heifers this summer? Our senior vet Sunita loves challenging herself to scan as fast and accurate as she can!

23/01/2025

⚠️ Feline Panleukopenia Alert ⚠️

We have recently had an increasing number of cats (particularly kittens) present with Feline Panleukopenia (FP). This is highly contagious and life-threatening to felines. The best course of action to protect your cats is to ensure that they are up to date with their vaccinations.

If you are not sure, please feel free to contact our reception team who can check your cat's current vaccination status and book them in for a vaccine if necessary.

What FP symptoms should I look out for?
👉 Diarrhoea
👉 Vomiting
👉 Sunken and/or gunky eyes
👉 Fever
👉 Lethargic

If your cat or kitten displays FP symptoms, you need to act quickly. Visit a vet as soon as possible, and alert them that you suspect FP.

It’s important for cat owners to understand just how contagious it is and what they need to do to keep their pets safe. Vaccinations are the best protection for your pet.

22/01/2025

We're in the thick of scanning at the moment, one of the busiest and most tiring times of the year for our dairy teams 🐄

Yesterday vet Dan and techs Sam and Annabelle started this stint scanning at 4am and didn't stop until 10.30am. After their hard work, the farm team surprised them with a yummy smoko spread. Thank you for keeping our team fueled Josh!

Aren't we lucky to work with such lovely farmers!

19/01/2025

What the FEC?

As the prevalence of drench-resistant worms is on the rise amongst sheep and cattle in New Zealand, faecal egg count (FEC) testing is becoming key. These tests can help you understand the worm burden in your stock and discover how your drench programme is working.

By TESTING, you can make informed decisions to TARGET an effective TREATMENT plan and ultimately have more control over your animal health spend across the season.

We offer in-clinic FEC testing and provide quick results. We have a variety of testing options and packages available for great prices – so have a chat with the team and bring in your stock poo samples!

17/01/2025

Fifteen Southland Farmers got off farm this week to meet up for the weekly Rural Riders session - with this Wednesday's night event that departed ex VetSouth in Winton!

After some pedal power they caught up with each other over a few beverages and BBQ at our Winton clinic.

The next session is on Wednesday 22 January ex Sandy Point, Otatara - check out Southland Rural Support Trust's post below for more details 👇

Rural Riders alternates weekly between Sandy Point, Otatara, and Winton - with each Winton session departing our clinic's carpark. See you there!

14/01/2025

The summer brings some heavy workloads on farms and high energy requirements for working dogs ☀️

Feed them a high fat, high protein diet, keep them well hydrated and watch out for signs of heat stress on hot days.

Read more from vet Hugh here 👇

The summer brings some heavy workloads on farms and high energy requirements for farm working dogs. Manage the heat.

13/01/2025

We are once again pleased to sponsor the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards - Southland Otago and our best wishes go out to all competitors!

We look forward to celebrating the best of the Dairy Industry 🐄

10/01/2025

Are you passionate about farming, animals and sharing stories? 🐑 📣

Keen to spend your days crafting impactful campaigns and creating engaging content alongside our skilled team of vets, techs, nurses, and support crew?

Join the marketing team here at VetSouth!
APPLY NOW: https://vetnz.bamboohr.com/careers/274

Our mission is to provide better veterinary services to New Zealand. To help us get the job done right, we’re looking for a marketing extraordinaire with expertise in copywriting and digital marketing, with creative flair and strong relationship-building skills - someone eager to make a meaningful impact.

We are searching for a Marketing Campaign & Content Specialist (fixed-term) to collaborate with our teams in sharing our stories and opportunities with the world. You'll work across all sectors, spearheading marketing efforts for our Sheep, Beef, Deer and Publications Portfolio.

Ready to jump in? We’re looking for someone like YOU! Apply NOW at the link above.