The Dairy Vet

18/04/2024

Are your heifers ready for their last winter before calving? One of our clients has a beautiful, well-grown line of heifers that looked to be in perfect order to head into winter.
Just in case, we took some bloods and they turned out to be very deficient in Selenium! We prefer levels to sit around the 500, so you can imagine these levels are very low.
If we hadn’t looked and found out, the wheels would have most likely fallen off during winter and over calving.
And yes, a boost of B12 was what the doctor ordered as well 😅

19/03/2024

Our client seminar is this Thursday! If you haven’t RSVP’d yet please do so today 😁
See you Thursday 🐄 🐮 🐄

24/02/2024

First autumn calving of 2024 is done and dusted for The Dairy Vet! Isn’t she a stunner?

13/02/2024

Even the boys are seeking shade in this heat 🤭🫠!!
Heat management is an important part of dairy farming at this time of the year. What are your tips and tricks to keep your cows comfortable?

29/01/2024

It’s a month full of birthdays at The Dairy Vet! Happy birthday Fraser, Dalys and Ann-Maree 🥳 🎈 🐄 🎈 🥳

23/01/2024

If you think you have a cow with Woody Tongue it really pays to check inside her mouth!
One of today’s suspects had a massive blockage of part chewed grass and cud stuck in the back of her throat, making her unable to eat or drink. No amount of drugs would have resolved that, so luckily her mouth was checked and the blockage removed! The picture below shows the culprit.

These blockages are commonly seen in younger cows that are changing into their adult cheek teeth, making chewing painful. This prompts them to swallow their mouthful before it has been chewed for long enough and it then gets lodged in the back of the mouth/throat. As the cow keeps ruminating and bringing up cud, the blockage increases in size, resulting in the ‘Woody Tongue look’ of a drooling face and a swollen jaw

09/01/2024

Happy New Year!! We hope you enjoyed the end of year festivities and had some time to relax too.
This is what Bodhi thought about returning to the office this week..
Luckily, the TDV team is all charged up and ready to embrace the coming scanning season and the various summer jobs that will be coming our way.
We look forward to seeing you in this new year

28/12/2023

Happy Holidays from the TDV team to you all!!

21/11/2023

How funny is this?!
David and Michelle, who are at Geoff Lynch’s farm, received a phone call last night if it was ok for 40(!) Dutch farmers to come and have a look at the farm today.. Sure! Why not?!
Anne (our very own Dutchie) and Michelle happened to drive past at the very time of the visit and decided to pull in. Little did Anne know that she was going to have to explain the entire NZ dairy system from a vet point of view, in Dutch! It was a fun morning and hats off to Geoff and David to show their farm to a large group at short notice!

16/11/2023

What a great Xmas party we had with our The Dairy Vet team today at Orlando’s Country Club!
Some competitive natures became quite obvious at the driving range!! Check out the poses 🤭

11/11/2023

What a gorgeous day it was for the Annual Manawatu Oroua Boys and Girls Ag Lamb and Calf Day!
With a great turnout of about 60 very beautifully presented and well-loved calves we believe it was a great success, a credit to all the children participating!
Fraser and Michelle from The Dairy Vet enjoyed their day and happily presented some of the winners with their well-deserved prices.
Well done to all involved in making this day a success!

10/11/2023

And that’s a wrap!
Yesterday we had our final Calf Rearing Discussion Group meeting for the TDV Calf Club of the 2023 season.
It has been a fun and educational 6 months and we want to thank our participants for their input and enthusiasm.
If you would be interested to enroll yourself or your farm staff for next season, please get in touch!

07/11/2023

Have you herd?
Check out our website article for the latest news on Leptospirosis and the newly found 4th strain that has been discovered in New Zealand..
Luckily we will have the new vaccine, covering all 4 strains, available from the new year onwards!

Leptospirosis, commonly called “Lepto” is a complex and important disease in the New Zealand (NZ) farming industry. Its importance is two-fold, firstly due to the impact it can have on infected animals and, secondly, because humans can be infected causing severe and even life-threatening disease...

04/07/2022

Hi all, fingers crossed that the good weather will last! Just a reminder that we are still seeing quite high worm burdens in yearlings. Please make sure that they are drenched with a combination drench, as one off the main worm species at this time of year (Cooperia) is quite resistant to most Ivomec based drenches. If not sure what is the correct drench to be using please give us a call

16/02/2022

Check out our latest great website read by Reon... the benefits of calcium supplementation outside of Spring!

Written by Reon McMurtrie The mention of calcium likely brings to mind milk fever, metabolic bags and rain, as it is around the time of calving where the issues surrounding calcium in the dairy cow become most visible to us. So, it might seem odd discussing calcium requirements outside of spring b

19/01/2022

A big welcome to Carolyn Pocock our new Delivery Team Leader! It's great to have you as part of our Dairy Vet Team and we're rather impressed with your commitment already - check out the nail art!!!

28/11/2021

Hi all hope everyone’s not to busy on the run into Xmas. With the changeable weather at the moment we are seeing quite marked seed head development in pasture at present. This lowers your herds pasture and energy intakes and can have a big impact on the mating performance of your herd especially the later calvers. If your herd has dropped off in production please get in contact.

17/08/2021

Keep safe !

10/08/2021

Hi all hope everyone one is managing to stay warm ! Fingers crossed that some warmer weather is on the way. We are starting to see some calf scours occurring at the moment. With the main problem being cryptosporidium. Crypto tends to cause a problem in younger calves that don’t have a good immune response. Please make sure that all new calves are getting good quality colostrum and if you are getting some off colour calves please get in contact. Crypto like most causes of calf scours can be managed effectively if dealt with early and can easily spread through calf sheds and cause a big problem. It is also something that people can catch as well so good hygiene is essential !