New welfare regulations 2

Pre-lamb drenching… should we be doing it?

3,

4, 5

M. bovis for beef farmers 6

Spring Reminders 7

Lepto abortions in cattle 8

233 State Highway 1, Bulls & 48 Tutaenui Road, Marton Email: team@srvs.co.nz www.srvs.co.nz Tel (06) 3222 333

JULY 2018

SUNDAY

ROAST

Inside What’s

Spring is just around the corner, and there are already calves and lambs on the

ground. From now through to Christmas the time seems to fly by for us in the produc-

tion team at SRVS.

This year has been another one for high spore counts throughout late summer and

autumn. Given that many farms had lambs affected with facial eczema, sub-clinical

liver damage may show up in ewes at lambing time with the liver having to do a lot of

work in late pregnancy and early lactation. This can manifest as an increased number

of late-term abortions/dead lambs, more sleepy sickness, and ewes fading away after

lambing.

Beef scanning is all done and dusted and results were quite good overall compared to

recent previous seasons. For our clients, the average mixed age cow empty rate was

6% and the average heifer empty rate was 3%.

With the new welfare regulations it will be compulsory from 1st October 2019 for all

animals to receive local anaesthetic before debudding or de-horning. If you normally

do this job yourself, you can still do so, but we will need to go through a training ses-

sion on-farm with you and sign you off in order for you to purchase and administer

local anaesthetic.

At the end of this month we bid a very sad farewell to our superstar Office Coordina-

tor, Tracy Hutchinson, who has been the friendly voice at the end of the phone and

face at the counter at SRVS for almost eleven years. She has accepted a position with

a local company, so luckily we will still see her around. Please be patient when book-

ing in farm vet visits if you are talking to a staff member who is not as familiar with our

client database as Tracy, we will try to make the transition as seamless as possible.

Lepto Abortions in Beef Cattle

Over the past couple of years we have done several abortion investigations for beef herds, and more fre-

quently we are diagnosing Leptospirosis as the cause of abortions. It is a double blow because not only is the

calf lost but often aborting cows develop secondary bacterial uterine infections, limiting further pregnancies.

The disease is highly infectious because infected cows shed high numbers of Leptospira in urine. Like other livestock, beef

cattle are infected by grazing pasture or drinking water contaminated with infected animal urine. The bacteria thrive in

moist or wet conditions and can survive for months. Recent surveys by Massey University in our area have found a very high

proportion of mammals carry leptospires – pigs, deer, rats, cats, possums… you name it!

Control is based on vaccination and minimising spread of infection via the

environment. Shedding of the bacteria is almost zero when calves are vaccinated be-

fore three months old and less likely on farms where calves are first vaccinated before six

months old. Calves should therefore complete their first vaccination course by three

months old, before they have a chance to become infected. Vaccinate twice with 4-6

weeks between injections—either with Ultravac 7-in-1® (two lepto strains and five clos-

tridial strains) or Leptoshield® (two lepto strains) vaccine.

Vaccinate adult beef cattle annually. To ensure protection against shedding, don’t delay

the annual vaccination period beyond 12-13 months. Include ALL cattle.

Leptospirosis is important because not only does it cause disease in cattle, but humans can get seriously sick from it

too. People can catch leptospirosis from infected animal urine. Even a splash or fine spray of urine or indirect con-

tact with urine-contaminated water can be enough to transmit the infection. Cuts, sores and grazes on the skin in-

crease the risk of infection, as does licking your lips and eating or smoking before washing and drying your hands

People affected by leptospirosis, either mildly or severely, may not show symptoms. Infection may just feel like a

bad case of the flu, with headaches and fever. Severe cases can result in permanent complications, usually kidney

or liver damage. Some people may be unable to work for months and in severe cases, be unable to return to run-

ning their farm. The disease in people can also re-surface many years later.

The annual Challenge-a-bull Vets vs Farmers sports chal-

lenge was held in Marton and the sport this year was bad-

minton. While historically results favour Farmers as the

overall winners, this year the Vets managed to peg one back

and take out the trophy for 2018. We had a fun-filled even-

ing and would like to say a huge thanks to all the clients who

came along.

Spring Reminders New Animal Welfare Regulations Most of you will be aware there are a number of new animal welfare regulations that come into effect on 1st Octo-

ber 2018. I have summarised the regulation changes below. Note that the regulations around dis-budding and de-

horning cattle are delayed until 1 October 2019 to give animal owners and practitioners time to prepare.

Regulations for all animals

1. Collars and tethers - Collars and tethers, on any part of an animal, must not cause swellings, cuts or skin abrasions that bleed or discharge, or prevent the animal from breathing normally, panting or drinking. 'Tether' means any form of restraint that secures any part of the animal to an object or the ground.

2. Use of electric prodders - You are prohibited from using electric prodders with some exceptions for cattle, pigs, and deer based on their weight and situation.

3. Prodding animals in sensitive areas - You must not strike or prod an animal in the udder, anus, genitals, or eyes using a

goad. A 'goad' is an object used to make an animal move.

Regulations specific to cattle

1) Cattle with in-grown horns - If you own or are in charge of cattle you must not allow a horn to become ingrown.

2) Prohibited methods of milk stimulation in cattle - You must not stimulate milk let-down by inserting anything into a

cow's vagina.

3) Use of traction in calving - You must not calve a cow using a moving vehicle, or an instrument that doesn't allow the

immediate release of tension (includes a motorised or mechanical winch).

4) Docking cattle beasts' tails - Docking cattle tails is prohibited, except by a veterinarian as a treatment for disease or

injury. Dock means to shorten or remove the tail by any method.

5) Castrating cattle beasts (and sheep) - You must use a local anaesthetic when castrating cattle over 6 months of age.

You must use a local anaesthetic at any age when using high tension bands to castrate cattle. A high-tension band is a

band that is mechanically tightened during application, with tension maintained by a crimp or similar device when the

band is released from the applicator.

6) Dis-budding cattle beasts - From 1 October 2019, local anaesthetic must be used when dis-budding cattle of any age.

This procedure isn't limited to veterinarians – talk to us about training and providing anaesthetic.

7) De-horning cattle beasts - From 1 October 2019, local anaesthetic must be used when dehorning cattle of any age.

This procedure isn't limited to veterinarians – talk to us about training and providing anaesthetic.

Regulations specific to dogs

• Dogs transported on the open deck or open trailer of a moving motor vehicle (other than a moped, a motorcycle or an

all-terrain vehicle) on a public road must be secured to prevent them falling or hanging off.

Sleepy sickness in ewes

Prevention is crucial when it comes

to metabolic disease. Providing

enough feed and reducing stressors

can significantly reduce metabolic

problems in late pregnancy and lac-

tation. If there is no sign of other disease, heavily pregnant

ewes that are lethargic or unable to stand should be treated

for sleepy sickness/ milk fever. Treatment is giving Keto-Aid

orally and Glucalphos under the skin.

Glucalphos 100ml packs are no

longer available, but the cow size

500ml packs contain enough to

treat up to 5 ewes.

Pre-lamb vaccines

Vaccinate ewes 2-4 weeks pre-lamb with a

clostridial vaccine such as Coglavax 8-in-1®, 5-

in-1 or Covexin 10-in-1®, to ensure passive

protection to lambs (which lasts up to 16

weeks). If the ewes have never been vaccinated be-

fore they require a booster vaccination 4 weeks later.

Note: If your ewes have historically been vaccinated

with 5-in-1 and you are vaccinating with Coglavax 8-in-

1 this year, they will not have full protection against

the three extra clostridial strains. They will however

still have the full 5-in-1 cover, and if you continue us-

ing the 8-in-1, the herd immunity as a whole will build

up to full protection over the course of several years.

Mag supplementation in beef cows

Grass staggers from low magnesium is

something we still see in beef cows eve-

ry year, and can be rapidly fatal. Putting

magnesium through water or dusting magnesi-

um oxide are both good ways to supplement

cattle, however this is not always practical on

some beef breeding farms. Rumetrace® mag-

nesium capsules release magnesium at a con-

stant rate over a period of 9-12 weeks. This is a

far more reliable way of ensuring all cattle are

receiving adequate magnesium supplementa-

tion than putting out salt licks.

Mycoplasma bovis for beef farmers I’m not writing this article to change anyone’s decision making this year; I’d just like you all to think while you give that per-

fectly healthy adult ewe an expensive (and potentially unnecessary or even detrimental) anthelmintic product.

I am not disputing that there can be benefits of giving long-acting pre-lamb anthelmintic treatments. Studies have histori-

cally shown that ewes and lambs are often heavier when compared to non-treated controls at docking and weaning; and

this can be reflected in an economic pay-out. The issue is unless it was your farm with your parasite population that the

study was performed on this year; you cannot guarantee this outcome will translate. A clinic in the Hawkes Bay have prov-

en this by supplying free monitoring services with their pre-lamb products over the last two years. They found that much

like the increase in resistance overall there were very few farms where pre-lamb products were still providing the worm

control they promise.

The Government’s decision to

continue with a phased eradi-

cation program for M.bovis is

warranted. Eradication is the

best scenario for NZ farmers

and our economy.

Our understanding as to why this

decision was made is that:

The current infected proper-

ties are all directly traceable

back to the original infected

farm.

The number of positive farms relative to the total number of farms nationally is low (40 out of >20,000 farming units).

There is only one strain of M.bovis, and so the situation is not complicated by multiple strains (such as Leptospirosis).

From what MPI have stated so far, the M.bovis in NZ all has the same genetic make-up and this indicates one biosecu-

rity breech still.

There are no vectors involved that could become hosts and spreaders.

The clinical presentation of how the disease would be seen in NZ is unknown.

M.bovis is a form of bacteria that only affects cattle. It has no cell wall which makes antibiotics ineffective, unlike most other

bacteria. M.bovis is spread via shedding from infected cattle through the eyes, nose, vagina, semen and milk. Wind-borne

spread is thought to only occur over short (metres) distances. Limitations with current tests is the reason why entire herds

have to be culled. Individually infected animals cannot be accurately identified. This is extremely distressing for the farmers

and cattle involved and we hope that more accurate laboratory testing will become available soon.

Given that so far M. bovis appears to have spread through the country via animal movements, some of the

higher risk practices for beef farmers are grazing or trading dairy cattle, and buying in stock - including beef

bulls and calves.

A few tips for minimising the risk and maintaining good biosecurity:

• Obtaining a good history from the source farm is probably more useful than any test that is currently available. Deter-

mine the health history of the source herd(s) that the animal has been running with—paying particular attention to

the herd’s level of mastitis and lameness.

• The risk increases in proportion to the number of property movements the animal has had—less is better.

• If you are grazing stock for other farms, preventing direct contact between cattle from different herds is critical. If

possible keep them in their own separate areas of the farm so that there is no sharing of troughs or feeders.

• Ensure all cattle on your property are NAIT tagged and registered, and have a completed movement generated by the

recipient when they come or go.

• Diarise (either in paper form or on a computer) all cattle movements. This means not only off and on your property,

but make a note every time you move a mob on your farm—including the date and paddock name or number.

• Ensure the perimeter of your property has secure fencing and a 2 metre buffer zone.

• If you are buying calves to rear, try to purchase them directly from a farm rather than the saleyards—this is where

they potentially come in contact with a lot of other cattle. Do not purchase waste milk (aka. penicillin milk, mastitis

milk) from dairy farmers to feed your calves.

Should we be doing it…? Pre-lamb Drenching

Most of you give these treatments blindly, not having any idea

what the current drench resistance status is on your farm.

We often talk about long acting pre-lamb products potentially

increasing the development of drench resistance on your farm.

So, what exactly happens if resistance to these products is al-

ready present on your farm? Giving a long acting anthelmintic in

this situation will wipe out susceptible parasite variants leaving

only resistant ones passing through (refer to picture). Because

these products are long acting they will apply this selection pres-

sure every single day they persist for each individual parasite e.g.

Cydectin LA injection®= 42 days against T.colubriformis, Bionic

capsule®= 100 days against all the common nematodes. Bionic

capsules® are effectively like giving the ewes an oral dose of a

double combo (ML/BZ) every day for 100 days! This selection

pressure in turn results in a very high proportion of resistant lar-

vae on the pasture before the lambs are even adding to the pas-

ture burden. Effectively the refugia is reduced when it is of the

utmost importance; in spring!

Should we be doing it…? Pre-lamb Drenching cont.

When we talk about drench resistant parasites on a

property there are a few significant numbers we

like to talk about (please refer to the graph). The

first is the value at which we say a drench is work-

ing effectively: this is when 95% of the parasites (or

particular parasite species) in the population are

being killed (or are ‘susceptible’) with the correct

use of an anthelmintic. This is portrayed by the

green part of the graph. It is pertinent to note that

even though we say the drench is working here

there will still be resistant parasites present in this

population, that can be selected for if drenches are

used unnecessarily (drenching ewes) and other par-

asite management tools are not adopted. The next

significant value is 50% (in the orange part of the

Should we be doing it…? Pre-lamb Drenching cont.

Exit Drenching after Pre-lamb Treatments

Exit drenching is the use of a 100% effective drench given towards the end of the persistent activity pe-

riod of an anthelmintic, to kill any resistant parasites that managed to survive. This is an exercise that

should be practiced every time long acting pre-lamb products are used.

One particular worm species has become a major threat to the future of sheep and beef pastoral farming in New Zealand.

Its name is Trichostrongylus colubriformis. This worm lives in the small intestine and is a major cause of clinical parasitism

in lambs, usually during the autumn months. It is also known as the black scour worm. Over the past two years triple

drench resistance in this species has been diagnosed at an alarming rate and sadly conventional drench products not

working on many farms is going to become the new ‘norm’. This particular parasite can live for very long periods both on

the pasture and in the animal (pasture = 1-2years, animal = 1 year).

If resistant Trichostrongylus (or any resistant parasites) are present and your ewes do not receive an exit drench each ewe

could be harbouring these worms for up to a year after treatment, allowing their spread around your farm.

Like a quarantine drench, an exit drench should be the best available drench combination; this means there is only one

option: Zolvix Plus®. It should be given towards the end of the drenches activity which will change depending on which

product you use (e.g. Eweguard®, Cydectin LA®, Bionic® etc) please give us a call if you’d like advice on the best time to

apply an exit drench.

Staff profile—Kelly Aiken

Hi my name is Kelly Aiken and I’m the new-est member of SRVS team, based at the Marton clinic.

Originally from Kakaramea in my early years, I started my working career at Patea Vet Group which is also where I met my fu-ture husband Matthew. I settled in Waver-ley, bringing up our two children Hunter and Lauren, where we dairy farmed for 25 years.

Last year we sold up and moved to Bulls to start a new adventure in our lives—which yes was pretty scary but has proved to be better than we could have imagined.

My interests include horse riding, traveling, walking (anything outdoors really) and gen-erally enjoying life with family and friends to the fullest. (Oh and by the way my favor-ite wine is Giesen - Riesling). I have been at SRVS for twelve weeks now and am enjoy-ing my time, learning so much and working with a great team of people.

Every single time you pick up your drench gun

you are effectively supplying a selection pressure

to your parasite population (e.g. Eweguard® es-

sentially equals 35 daily drenches per ewe!).

When we inadvertently select for resistant para-

sites (e.g. continue to use an ineffective product,

don’t practice refugia, drench unnecessarily etc)

we can very quickly go from the green zone to

the red zone and suddenly we are faced with an

irreversible problem.

If we want to run a profitable farm and practice

good animal welfare we can’t simply stop drench-

ing lambs. However, we can stop drenching

ewes. Well-conditioned animals and good pas-

ture covers at lambing are far superior to any pre

-lamb drench treatments. And trace elements

such as cobalt and selenium plus normal vaccina-

tions in most instances are all your ewe needs as

a boost prior to lambing. In my opinion pre-lamb

drench treatments and the drenching of ewes in

general is not sustainable. Yes, we may lose out

on productivity now but that is far better than

leaving our children with a farm where conven-

tional parasite control measures simply don’t

work.

graph). When 50% of the worms in the population are resistant it is thought that this resistance status is irreversible

and therefore will be a permanent issue on the property. What is important to note here is that up until this value the

farmer will NOT see a problem with his stock performance. The only way to diagnose this issue before it is too late is

therefore to perform tests regularly; ideally a full faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) but at the very least: a

drench test. Most of you don’t do this.