May Large Animal News

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Orange Veterinary Hospital
57 Molong Rd
Orange, NSW, 2800
orangevet@orangevet.com.au
Phone: 02 6361 8388

	EXPORT SLAUGHTER INTERVALS OVH has recently had a few enquiries by our clients regarding Export Slaughter Intervals after the administration of veterinary medicines (specifically antibiotic therapy). Detailed definitions of ESI and Meat Withhold Periods can be found on the MLA and Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines websites. Basically a MWP is a scientifically proven timeframe when the animal is safe for human consumption in the domestic market. An ESI is an advisory time that should be observed to allow exporters of food commodities to meet the residues standards of trading partners (this may be more related to political reasons then scientific). It is mandatory that all products registered for use in livestock in Australia must have a MWP printed on the label whereas the same medication does not require an ESI. Some veterinary medications have an ESI printed on their label which makes it simple, however some recommend to contact the manufacturer or have no information at all, which can be confusing. There is also a list of current ESI available on both APVMA and MLA websites. It is important that farmers are aware of their responsibilities in selling food fit for human consumption. Do not rely on MWP alone, as some ESI’s can be two to three times the recommended MWP. It is also important to remember that some of the meat sold in the domestic market may end up being exported to other countries. If you have any doubts please contact Orange Veterinary Hospital for advice.		Oxytet is one medication that has an MWP on the label but no ESI, which means you need to contact your local friendly veterinarian for advice.

Contents of this newsletter

01  Introducing The Digital Farmer

02  Happily travelling horses

03  Avoid an abortion storm in your flock

04  Joining periods for cattle - when less is more!

05  Buying a horse? Know what you're getting

01 Introducing The Digital Farmer

The digital farming revolution is underway and has been touted as one of the major opportunities for Australian farming moving forward.

The Digital Farmer is a website that has been created for farmers looking for digital products across all agricultural sectors. The website identifies products and analyses them so that you can make better decisions when looking for software products suited to your farming enterprise.

It has been designed for Australian and NZ farmers, so all the content on there is relevant to you.

You can access The Digital Farmer here

02 Happily travelling horses

Many horse owners are aware that horses can become sick after long periods in transit, but what really is travel sickness, how do we recognise it and how do we prevent it?

Travel sickness in horses refers to a bacterial infection of the respiratory system known as pleuropneumonia. As horses graze with their head down the mucus and bacteria from their lower airways drains out, keeping their airway clean and healthy. During transit in most floats and trucks horses are unable to lower their head for long periods of time. This can lead to a build up in their lower airways and lungs causing infection. Low grade viral respiratory infections and immunosuppressive stress around travel also play a role in the development of travel sickness.

Signs to look out for initially include: dullness, loss of appetite and a high temperature. These can progress to fast and laboured breathing, rapid weight loss and even death. Horses are highly susceptible to respiratory tract infections and previously healthy horses can deteriorate rapidly. Early recognition and treatment is vital.

To minimise travel sickness in your horse:

only travel horses in good health, and which have adequately recovered from exercise
make rest stops every 4-6 hours to allow grazing or feeding from the ground
feed only on the ground

03 Avoid an abortion storm in your flock

Vibriosis or Campylobacteriosis is the most common cause of abortion outbreaks in ewe flocks in all Australian states except Queensland. In contrast to the bovine form of the disease, Campylobacter is not sexually transmitted nor does it cause infertility. It may be present in healthy sheep and excreted in faeces and aborted material. Susceptible ewes become infected by ingesting contaminated feed and/or water. A proportion of ewes may become intestinal carriers, which allows the disease to persist on a property from year to year. Apart from abortion storms, which may produce losses of up to 50%, infection can also result in late-term abortions or the production of stillborn or small, weak, non-viable lambs.

Many producers may be unaware that they have the disease on their property.

In a lot of cases, early abortions may not be observed and aborted foetuses, membranes and uterine discharge contaminate the feeding area. 2-3 weeks later an abortion storm occurs.

Control vibriosis by following these management procedures:

Feed pregnant sheep in a different area each time to reduce contamination by carrier or aborting ewes
As soon as practicable put replacement, non-pregnant ewes on the contaminated pasture where ewes were aborting, to auto-vaccinate
Scan pregnant ewes around 80-90 days of pregnancy to assess scanning versus marking percentages

A vaccine, Coopers Ovilis CampyVax, has been used successfully in Australia to increase lambing percentages, by reducing late pregnancy abortions and stillbirths. The vaccine is especially important when mating ewe lambs because they have had little opportunity to build their own immunity to Campylobacter. Two doses are required at least three weeks apart prior to joining.

Give us a call for more help managing vibriosis in your flock.

04 Joining periods for cattle - when less is more!

With many farms soon joining their autumn calving cattle, have you considered why short joining periods are important to your herd?

Shorter joining periods reduce the age difference in the herd. At the end of the day, you are paid for beef weaned, not the number of cows pregnant every year. Tight joining periods produce even lines of animals for sale, and maximise the kilograms of beef for sale.

For the cows, long calving patterns reduce the period of time from calving to joining for many cows, which in turn reduces the number of early pregnancies in the joining period, resulting in a large calving spread.

For replacement heifers, tight calvings allow more time to grow out before their first mating. When more heifers meet critical mating weights, more heifers will fall pregnant in that joining. This results in these heifers calving at greater weights, and subsequently being more fertile at their second joining.

Short calving periods also reduce the risk of scours, as environmental contamination is reduced.

6 tips for reducing your joining period

In southern beef enterprises, aim for a 9 week joining in cows and 6 weeks in heifers
If attempting to reduce your joining period, do so slowly by shaving 1-2 weeks off the cows' calving period every year. Provided heifers meet critical mating weights, heifer mating period can be reduced quickly.
2% bull power is optimal in southern beef enterprises. However if running below 100 breeders, still run 2 bulls.
Bulls should undergo a BULLCHECK™
Major reproductive diseases should be controlled – Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus, leptospirosis and vibriosis.
Pregnancy test using PREgCHECK™ accredited vets. Pregnancy testing should be performed 6 weeks after the bulls are out of the herd. This allows the best foetal aging, which enables you to cull empties and potentially late calvers.

05 Buying a horse? Know what you're getting

When buying a new horse you should always consider a veterinary pre-purchase examination (PPE). A standard PPE includes an ID, general health and soundness exam. Additional stages, if requested, include examination under saddle and after exercise, and procedures such as x-rays, endoscopy or drug testing can also be performed. We must receive the request for a PPE from the potential purchaser of the horse.

Buying a new horse is an exciting experience but care must be taken to ensure the horse will fulfil its purpose. Novice and experienced horse owners alike commonly request PPEs for an objective and unbiased professional assessment of a horse.

All issues are reported and comment is made as to how likely these are to affect the horse or pony in its intended use. Important findings often made on PPE include small tumours, laminitis, lameness, poor dental health, eye problems and old injuries. Keep in mind that PPEs are not a warranty of future soundness, or a certificate of suitability for use - a horse’s suitability should be determined by the potential purchaser.

Call us today to discuss having a PPE performed on your next potential superstar.


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	This email contains comments of a general nature only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinary advice. It should not be relied on as the basis for whether you do or don't do anything. View this newsletter online		All content © Pet Pack 2016 You received this email because you're subscribed to our newsletter or are a client of Orange Veterinary Hospital This email was sent to: (MemberEmail) Click here to unsubscribe