Facial eczema should be at the forefront of your mind now. Keep an eye on the regional trends from the monitor farms on the Vetora app, but better still, weekly spore-counting of grass samples from your own farm will give you a much more accurate picture of what’s going on. Remember that giving cows zinc through the water is a highly unreliable method to prevent facial eczema.
Plan for maize harvesting & storage – remember there are losses in feed value that occur before the stack is fully sealed, so communication with everyone to lock it in is important.
Autumn calving is just around the corner: remember Rotavec/Scourguard boosters, draft up your springers, start the magnesium supplementation, get your calving gear ready.
Think about body condition – despite the relatively green pastures, now is a good time to start thinking about your once-a-day milking vs dry-off timing strategy to make sure all cows are at 5 (or 5.5 for the 2 & 3 year olds) at calving. Remember that Vetora has a number of DairyNZ - accredited body condition scorers who can give you a hand with this important information.
Take some milk samples from RMT positive, high SCC cows – this helps us to advise on the appropriate treatments for next season & allows us to prescribe your dry cow appropriately.
Animal health plans will soon be up for their annual review, so it’s worth tallying up the mastitis, mortality and lameness numbers so this information is available.
Pregnancy testing is well underway. If you have any questions or concerns about your results, it is worthwhile sitting down with your vet to analyse and pick apart your statistics.
Heifers:
Pregnancy testing is underway, remember to have the conversation early with your vet if you have more empties than expected.
Zinc, usually in the form of a Faceguard bolus, should be underway for them now.
Keep weighing the heifers so that you know they are on track to meet growth targets.
Calves/R1s:
Zinc,usually in the form of a Faceguard bolus, should be underway for them now.
Keep the feed up so you’re achieving top growth rates. Even a couple of weeks short can make a difference to their first year’s milk production & ability to get back in calf, so keep in good communication with your grazier.
