Factors that are paramount to getting your heifers ready for successful reproductive programs include but are not limited to:

• Critical mating weights – getting heifers to >65% of their mature body weight (>390kg for 600kg mature weight cows) will ensure they have reached sexual maturity. The result is higher pregnancy rates and reduced dystocia (assisted calvings) in heavier, well-grown heifers, compared to lighter, poorly-grown heifers.
• Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV or Pestivirus) – BVDV can severely impact joinings, and needs to be controlled before the joining period.
• Internal parasites –nearly all losses to parasites occur in animals up to 2 years of age. As a rough rule of thumb, heifers should be drenched at weaning, pre-joining and pre-calving. For more specific advice, give us a call.

Once you have your heifers ready, it’s time to think about AI for the following reasons:

• Calving ease –select bulls that produce lighter calves, have shorter gestation lengths and grow out heifers that subsequently calve more easily.
• Simplify your joining – in 3 or 4 yardings, and minimal handling, 100% of your heifers will be joined to the bull of your preference. When using fixed time programs, there is also a good opportunity to synchronise the returns, so that another round of AI can be performed.
• Compact calvings – The compact calvings achieved with fixed time AI programs have a twofold effect. Firstly, heifers get the most time to recover, and return to a rising plane of nutrition before the subsequent joining. Secondly, this also produces homogenous lines of steers and heifers. The steers are heavier at weaning compared to their peers from natural matings, and the replacement heifers have longer on the ground to grow out to meet their own critical mating weights.

If you’re ready to take the next step with your beef herd, talk to us about AI in heifers.

Pinkeye season will be upon us in no time, and it’s important that you start preparing now to try and minimise losses.

Factors which predispose animals to pinkeye development include:

• Flies – last month we discussed an integrated pest management program to reduce the fly burden on farm. This should be started now as flies carry the bacteria between animals.
• UV light – and there isn’t much you can do about this
• Long grass – causes physical damage to the eye and can transmit infection
• Dust – irritates the eye
• Pigmentation – pinkeye is generally more common in non-pigmented eyes
• Overcrowding – high stocking rates and yardings assist the transfer of pinkeye
• Immune status – cattle in poor body condition are less able to mount immune responses. Prior exposure leads to immunity, and this is why outbreaks are generally worse in young cattle.

The costs of pinkeye are higher than most farmers realise. The direct costs of production loss and treatment are obvious, but have you thought about:

• A decrease in average daily weight gain of up to 10%
• Negative effects on fertility
• Decreased milk production due to reduced dry matter intake
• Stud animals – being removed from sales, or unable to be sold
• The welfare of the animals

 As an aid to prevent pinkeye infection,Piliguard vaccine is effective. However due to the stated risk factors above, you must not rely on the vaccine alone. Please feel free to contact the vets at OVH for further inofrmation regarding strategic use of the Piliguard vaccine - 63618388.

Stomach ulcers are common in many types of horses and ponies. They can be hard to recognise at first, but can usually be easily managed with a combination of medication and diet.

Ulcers can produce a variety of symptoms including:

• weight loss and being a ‘fussy’ eater
• poor coat condition
• loss of performance or a change in attitude toward work, resenting the girth
• behavioural changes and teeth grinding
• colic, especially low grade chronic or recurring pain

Horses produce saliva as they chew which neutralises acid and protects the inside lining of the stomach. In certain situations this protective mechanism is inadequate and the acid damages the inside lining of the stomach. In mild cases there may be small areas of inflammation of the stomach wall through to deep bleeding ulcers in severe cases.

Risk factors for stomach ulcers include:

• A diet high in grain or concentrates which become acidic during digestion
• A diet lacking in grass or roughage
• Strenuous exercise
• Stress either physical or psychological
• Other illness
• Prolonged use of certain medications

We diagnose ulcers by passing a video camera into the horse's stomach, which is a relatively simple and painless procedure performed with the horse under sedation.

Our experienced veterinarians may prescribe a course of oral omeprazole which is effective at reducing the production of acid in the stomach. Other oral medications that coat and protect the damaged stomach lining or a period of paddock rest may be required for horses already suffering form severe ulcers. Maintaining a balanced diet with adequate roughage or grazing time is the simplest way to reduce the risk of ulcers in your horse. 

Call us to further discuss your horses' digestive health.