Eltham Vet
Eltham Vet Services is a 13-vet practice that has served the farms and family pets of Central and South Taranaki with distinction since 1937. For your pet’s healthcare & your peace of mind contact or visit us.
I think it’s safe to say I’ll be leaving the weather forecasting to the professionals from now on. After confidently telling anyone who would listen that we were in for a dry summer, I have been well and truly found out as a fraud. As the rain continues to fall, we’re seeing cows being fed well and contractors working overtime — great problems to have at this time of year. Hopefully this translates into some strong milk dockets and well‑conditioned cows heading into autumn.
As always, warm nights combined with plenty of moisture mean we’re on high alert for facial eczema. Our focus this year is encouraging more farmers to test their own farms and animals. It’s essential to know your individual risk and whether your zinc programme is truly offering protective levels. Don’t rely solely on your neighbours’ spore counts or your feed rep assuring you that you’re at “full rates”.
We’re also excited to once again host our Twilight Golf Day on Thursday, the 26th of February. Tee‑offs start from 2pm, with a BBQ and rum tent out on the course, followed by prizegiving and dinner at the clubhouse. Spaces are filling up fast, so get your team organised and registered with the front office.
There are a few staffing changes as we kick off the year. We’re pleased to welcome two new graduates, Rhiannon and Rachel, who have recently joined the team and are settling in well. You’ll find an introduction to both of them inside this newsletter — please make them feel welcome when you see them out and about. At the same time, we are sadly saying goodbye to our Practice Manager, Leigh, who is leaving us to spend more time with her dogs and to support the growing New Plymouth business she and her fiancé are building together. We are incredibly grateful for her hard work, dedication, and positive influence over the past three years, and we wish her all the very best in her next adventure.
Hi! I’m Rhiannon. I grew up in sunny Southland on a sheep farm. I graduated from Massey University in 2025 and made the move to the Naki not long after to be a mixed vet! Outside of work you’ll find me travelling, running or enjoying anything outdoors.
Hi, I'm Rachel.
I’m a 2025 veterinary graduate, born in Canada and moved to New Zealand when I was eight. I’m keen to get involved in a wide range of cases and explore the region. Outside of work, I love spending time outdoors and am looking forward to getting back into orienteering and learning to surf.
As we move toward the facial eczema (FE) risk period, it’s a good time to pause and check that your current prevention plan is working as intended. Is the “same as last year” approach going to protect your cows/livestock?
One of the most valuable roles your vet can play during FE season is helping you assess how well your strategy is protecting your cows. We all know the obvious signs such as red or sensitive skin and irritated cows, but the first clinical sign is a milk production drop. 10-20 cows can be affected at a sub-clinical level per single clinical case, due to liver damage that is not visible.
Key take-home points from our recent 1-hour FE presentation:
If you would like to talk through monitoring options, zinc strategies, or longer-term planning for your farm, please feel free to get in touch with your vet.
Worms can quietly but significantly reduce calf growth and future production, often before obvious signs appear. Relying on drenching alone won’t solve the problem and we all need to start thinking of different management measures we can use to help reduce our use of drenches and therefore reduce the likelihood of worms developing resistance to them.
Vet tech Amber and several farmers have been collecting and measuring faecal egg counts (FEC) this season as part of our clinic survey. From the 45 FEC performed so far when calves were historically ‘due a drench’, we have found that the worm egg numbers are very low and no drench is required. This not only is helping to reduce the amount of drench used but reducing cost, labour and time.
What can you do? Yard or hold calves in a small area and collect a faecal sample from 10 different calves/pats and bring into the clinic (together is fine) a few days prior to your usual drenching time. The other important time to check FEC is to see how well the drench is working, i.e. do a post-drench FEC which needs to be 10x individual faecal samples for increased accuracy. If you have any questions then don’t hesitate to contact the clinic or your key vet.
Bulk milk somatic cell count creeping up? More clinical mastitis cases than you would like? Here at Eltham Vets, we have a team of Advanced Mastitis Accredited Vets who can help deep dive into your farms BMSCC and mastitis cases as well as come out for a milking time visit to assess your milking process. We assess teat condition, teat spray and the milking machine.
Have you had any downgrades? You may be eligible for some compensation under the Fonterra demerit relief scheme, meaning these miking visits or intervention may not cost you anything. Get in touch with the clinic to discuss your mastitis or BMSCC goals.
As we head into autumn, this is a quick reminder about salmonella vaccination timing to make sure your cattle are protected before the higher-risk winter period.
If you are already vaccinating your herd with Salvexin B, remember they need an autumn booster to maintain protection through winter. Ideally this should be done before winter conditions set in, when stress, wet paddocks, supplementary feeding, and metabolic challenges all increase salmonella risk.
If you’re starting salmonella vaccination in heifers, the schedule is:
Leaving it too late means cattle may not have full immunity when the risk is highest.
Salmonella is still a major cause of sudden death, severe scours, abortions, and production losses in NZ cattle herds. We’ve recently had the strain of salmonella Brandenburg, previously thought isolated to the South Island, that causes abortion, isolated here in Taranaki. Vaccination doesn’t eliminate salmonella completely, but it significantly reduces severity, shedding, and losses when animals are exposed.
Surveillance data from Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has shown a significant, ongoing increase in bovine salmonellosis across New Zealand since spring 2024, continuing into 2025, with ongoing cases reported each year across both dairy and beef systems.
If you’re unsure whether your herd is up to date, or want to plan vaccination alongside other autumn jobs, give the clinic a call — we’re happy to help.
This time of the year there are several vaccinations due in calves, and it can get confusing keeping track of what needs to be done and when.
By now, calves should have already received:
At around 4–5 months of age (December–February), calves should start their BVD vaccination course. This is two injections, with the timing between doses depending on the vaccine used (anywhere from 3 weeks up to 6 months apart). Some farms chose to use the BVD vaccine that also includes IBR at this stage (Hiprabovis).
As calves get older, further vaccinations are due:
All calf vaccinations can be given by you or your staff. It is only lepto vaccines that need to be administered by a vet or technician.
Calf vaccination programmes can vary depending on farm risk, history, and management system, so this is intended as a general guide only. If you’re unsure where your calves are up to, or want to check that your vaccination programme is set up correctly for the coming winter, get in touch with the clinic.
Pregnancy testing time is upon us again. There are a few different ways people approach pregnancy diagnosis:
Milk tests and collars can be useful screening tools, but they only tell part of the story. Aged ultrasound scanning is still the only reliable way to know when cows are going to calve next spring — and that information is gold for management decisions later in the season. Knowing calving dates lets you:
DairyNZ work has shown that drying off lighter, early-calving cows earlier may cost a bit of milk at the end of the season, but that loss is typically made back the following season — plus you get the benefits of cows calving at target condition.
Aged scanning also gives you proper data to look back at mating:
Without accurate conception dates, it’s very hard to answer those questions or make a solid plan for next year.
To get the best results from aged scanning, timing is key. Scanning too late means early pregnancies are too big to age accurately. Booking your herd around 6 weeks after the end of mating gives the most useful information.
Pregnancy testing is also a great opportunity to vaccinate for leptospirosis. This season we’re offering a 50-cent per dose discount on leptospirosis vaccine when the farmer or farm staff administer the vaccine during pregnancy testing (which speeds the vets scanning up). This discount does not apply if the vaccine is given by a vet or vet student.
If you’re already running cows through the yards for scanning, adding lepto vaccination is an efficient way to get it done with minimal extra time or stress.
So if you’re pregnancy testing anyway, it’s worth thinking about:
If you want to talk through scanning options, timing, or lepto vaccination plans, get in touch with the clinic — we’re happy to help tailor it to your system.
With good grass growth and the ability to better balance pasture quality (good digestibility, ME, and lowered NDF) with quantity, we are seeing flatter lactation curves in many herds this season. Although you might be paying some unexpected contracting bills in late January an optimist can say - "Its better to be looking at feed, than looking for it!"
Post-peak milk decline can be broadly divided into cow factors and diet factors – some within our control, and some not. If you’ve noticed a sustained lift in kgMS/cow/day during this wet January, it may be timely to review your summer feed budget and/or your Comparative Stocking Rate (CSR). Your CSR is the total liveweight of cows divided by the total annual feed supply (pasture and imported) per hectare. In some systems, the CSR may be consistently under or over matched to feed supply, leading to missed milk solids potential or profitability. Dairy NZ have stated that operating profit peaks at a CSR around 76 kg LW per t DM, while milk solids per hectare tend to increase at higher CSR values. Accuracy of CSR requires good data on pasture production, supplements, genetics and average liveweights. The impact of summer weeds on total pasture and milk solid production can be substantial & forward planning for weed control should be mapped now for next spring.
Hormones play a key role in how energy is partitioned through lactation. You will start to see milk production decline in pregnant cows from day 100-150 of pregnancy due to progesterone, insulin and growth hormone directing energy toward back fat and the placenta. Body condition score at peak milk is critical — cows below target through spring will produce fewer milk solids per kg DM consumed thorough the season. 2 and 3 year olds are still growing and will prioritise skeletal and liveweight gain before allocating energy to milk production. For a first calver currently at a body condition score of 4, it will take 140 days for her to lift to target condition of 5.5 at her next calving with the addition of quality supplements (DairyNZ) including the month before her due date where no weight gain is made.
Heat stress has been less of a challenge so far this season, with cows performing best between 5–25°C, supported by cooler nights and wind for heat dispersal. Conversely, these conditions can favour antinutritional risks such as grass endophytes (grass staggers), rust, facial eczema and mycotoxins — all of which can contribute to dramatic post-peak decline.
Once pregnancy data is available then next seasons milk production potential begins. Start with individually body condition scoring your rising 3 year olds to form a dry off plan, taking into account calving date. Vets at our clinic are annually body condition score certified to keep our eye in, improving the consistency between colleagues and ensuring we can give trusted advice in this area.
Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) is a contagious respiratory and reproductive disease of cattle caused by bovine herpesvirus (BoHV-1). It is widespread in New Zealand, with an estimated 60–80% of dairy farms carrying the virus.
Once infected, cattle carry the virus for life. It can remain dormant and reactivate during periods of stress such as calving, transport, mating, or illness. Heifers are commonly affected, and dairy cattle are at higher risk than beef cattle due to closer contact in milking sheds. Bulls can also become infected and spread the virus through mating or infected semen.
Most infected cattle show no obvious signs. When disease does occur, you may notice runny noses or eyes, coughing, reduced appetite, and a drop in milk production. IBR can also cause swelling and painful lesions around the vulva, leading to reluctance to be mated and temporary fertility issues in both cows and bulls.
The virus spreads through coughing and nasal discharge, direct contact between cattle, and contaminated surfaces such as yards, sheds, and rails. It can also be spread by infected bulls or semen. As IBR is a very hardy virus, it does survive for extended periods on surfaces.
IBR is of clinical significance because it can reduce milk production and fertility, cause temporary infertility in bulls, and create complications for live export, as many countries screen for the disease.
How can it be managed? Risk factors can be reduced by maintaining a closed herd where possible, testing and isolating new or suspect animals (especially bulls), vaccinating youngstock and bulls prior to mating, considering herd vaccination on higher-risk farms, and maintaining good shed and yard hygiene.
If you have concerns about IBR in your herd, please give us a call. Testing and vaccination can be built into your farm biosecurity plan to help protect herd health and performance.
See below to see what the Eltham Vets team has been up to over the last month
Eltham Vet Services is a 13-vet practice that has served the farms and family pets of Central and South Taranaki with distinction since 1937. For your pet’s healthcare & your peace of mind contact or visit us.
