So . . It’s that time of the year again where we start to think about heifer teatsealing.

This year we are encouraging our farmers to get in early to get the most benefit out of teatsealing their heifers. Heifers are your future herd in which you have invested a considerable amount of money prior to them entering the herd. This means we want to avoid heifers developing mastitis post calving to reduce them being culled early.

Heifer mastitis rates on some NZ farms have reached 25% so it is important to try to minimize this problem and the costs associated with it. Teatseal is a non-antibiotic that is inserted into a heifer’s teat canal to form a physical plug preventing bacteria from entering the udder leading to a 70% reduction in clinical mastitis.* Using it anytime from 1 to 135 days prior to calving*is just as effective in reducing the risk of clinical mastitis up to 30 days after calving. (*NZ published studies)

Why would you want to get it done early?

• Get the most out of the product and cost itself.

• Can be done during less stressful times of the year (pre herd dry off).

• Lower risk of clinical mastitis within the first 30 days of calving when does earlier.

• Use of the trailer is available at any time if there is a race and yard set up.

We have two purpose-built trailers up and running between the Vetora teams. The trailer allows us to teatseal 5-6 heifers at a time at nearly any location which has access to yards and a race.

Benefits of using the trailer:

• Don’t need to train through shed (time consuming)

• Used to going up races due to previous health treatments

• Can be done off farm at grazing before returning home.

• A lot safer for both the techs and heifers due to the structure of the trailer.

If you would like to get in early or have a chat with our teams, please feel free to contact us at any time.