March 29, 2026 • 7 mins
Andrew Cochrane says BVD testing is something every cattle grower should consider doing.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Musters Animal health segment with nis Vets adding value
through practical advice and service, no gimmicks, no potions, total
vet care.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Andrew cot Cronavenius Vets in Riversdale, where he's based, joins
us once again.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Cocky. Good afternoon, Good afternoon, Andy, How are you pretty good?
Hell's the weekend? Good?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Thanks? Good? Good rain which was nice, and just caught
up on some jobs around the house, so all caught up,
which was good.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, Riversdale has been in need of a good rain,
Let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It has been. Yet we've had a great sort of
ten days. Whetherwise it's sort of the summer we never had.
But yeah, certainly needed a rain. So with the way
things out today, we should see a bit of growth again,
which would be good.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So you guys are busy at the moment, starting off
of BBD testing.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, the funny time of year. We sort of finished
the bulk of the dairy scanning. We're doing a bit
of beef scanning. But it's a wee bit of a
quite a period as we lead into peak ceiling and
drawing off cows. So it's a good opportunity to get
some some bloods done. So this morning. That's been the
main job BVD blood testing some beef carves that have
(01:09):
been weaned, so worthwhile having a conversation about we can
still do it through the MBOVERA scheme. They're still wanting
more cattle screened for that to make sure the prove
that we are free of the disease. So it's a
chance to do that quite cheaply, and certainly don't want
BVD creeping into the herd. So dairy, young stock and
(01:30):
beef at weaning is worth thinking about BBD, whether you
do every animal like I have been this morning, or
whether you do the screening test to see that exposures
where exposure is at.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Do the majority of people test for BBD?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Probably not, No, The dairy guys are all doing it
through their bulk milk, or most are doing through their
bulk milk, which is great, and that's a pretty good
measure of where things are at. There's probably not a
huge amount of dairy guys doing exposure testing or testing
in the young stock. They're sort of more relying on
that milk test, which which can result in some slip ups,
(02:05):
and then beef guys, it's probably only sort of fifty
percent I would guess that are doing anything, A lot
will do exposure testing, which is often sufficient. So through
the ENBOVA scheme we can get an idea of exposure
for only fifty dollars, So the government's covering the cost
of the vet time and the mileage and then it's
(02:25):
only fifty dollars of a lab fees to test exposure.
So yeah, a reasonably cheap tool to be able to
see where you're at.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Let's say it's a no brainer if it's only fifty bucks,
pretty close to.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
A no brainer. BVD can have some huge impacts if
you let it get away.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Ken of what now dairy teat ceiling and heifer's not
too far away.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
No, I think we've got our first one this week,
which is a bit of a scary thought. So probably
just a reminder of everyone if you haven't booked in already,
to make sure you do that. And yeah, we'll be
into that pretty soon. Drawing off is sneaking up too,
so we're starting to get into a little bit of
dry cow consulting and discussing the changes that are happening
in that space, and then some condition scoring, So a
(03:07):
good time of year to be condition scoring. Your whole heard,
so every animal individually, and then we can match that
up with their carving date and decide whether or not
they need to be managed any differently. So if you've
got light, skinny cows that are early carving, while worthwhile
drawing them off a few weeks earlier, month earli if
you have to give them a chance to get back
towards target condition. If they're a skinny cow but aren't
(03:28):
carving till the twentieth of September, then we can probably
leave them because they're going to get plenty of time
at the other end to get that condition on. So
quite a useful tool. There's plenty of evidence around the
impact of condition score on milk production and reproduction. So
making sure that we're reaching those carving targets sort of
starts now.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
It's probably a good chance for staff as well. They
haven't been doing too much body condition scoring. Just when
you guys are there and doing the actual job, you
can understanding of what's involved.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, we'll certainly have some guys yep, exactly. That's get
sort of calibrated by us as we're doing it to
make sure that what we're calling a four four and
a half is similar to what they're calling. The main
thing really to be fear is that you're consistent. So
if if you're adding it on farm and maybe you're
not giving quite the same score as us, at least
if you're consistent, you can you can still be picking
(04:18):
out like cows consistently.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
The rams is that time of years in nooss out.
They'll be going out very very shortly. Just a good
chance to go over the boys and make sure they're
at peak performance.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, so a good chunk of them will have been
ve checked when now there's still a handful that we're
catching up on over the next sort of ten days.
But even those ones that you know were checked six
weeks six eight weeks ago should just be checked again.
For things like feet, a lot can happen in a
few weeks, so making sure that you've taken care of
any lame rams before they go out. Obviously, if he saw,
he's less likely to be able to get around and
(04:52):
to mount those yews. But's if their feet are bad
enough that he's got an infection and a fever that
can actually ren room infertile for six weeks. So we
don't want to be dealing with that sort of thing.
So if you've got rams that have got particularly bad
feet at a swollen or got bad in fictions, they
may also need penicillin to take care of that, and
(05:14):
just be cautious of the fact that they may not
be as fertile as they otherwise would be.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I remember at this time of year too, with the
weather being a bit warmer and the boys tend to
be fighting what they do. How you get a few
crowd marks as well. Sometimes it gets infected. To just
be weary of that.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, infections, and we commonly get flyblow there as well.
You know, it's something that we've got to keep an
eye on. The rams can often be a little bit neglected,
so we'll often be talking about making sure seleniums are
good and lambs and news and the ram never gets
to need selenium. So again, if the rams haven't had
selenium at all, it might be a silly idea to
give them a mineral drench before they go out, to
(05:48):
make sure that they're well and truly covered to for
sperm house and facility.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
And just while we're talking about baby flies, you speak
to you a couple of weeks ago about the about
blow fly situation as such, have we seen any changes there.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
No, it probably hasn't blown up as much as I
thought it might have, and maybe I'm just not hearing
about it and it's timmy. Yet people are fairly fairly
well dipped. To be fair too, I know there's a
fair bit of dipping happening, and obviously user getting Mark
Sean as well, which takes care of a bit of
fly as well. So probably hasn't been as bad as
I thought it may have been with the conditions were
certainly right for it and still are, although we've got
(06:23):
a wee bit of wind again today which will sort
of be making it hard to be a fly. But
there's something to keep an eye on. If we're seeing
fly struck animals at this close to the meeting, that's
pretty much making them an empty are.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Dry Andrew the team at in his fence? How do
people get in touch?
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You give us a call at the clinic. If we
are not available, leave a message and we'll do our
best to get back to you. But more than happy
to have you.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
On good only Andrew, always appreciate your time on the muster.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Awesome to Danny.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Andrew Cochrane of any fits in Riversdale. Official animal health
advisors to the muster. Clayton Peters of it IS Genetics
is up next. We sent over to Harriet
The Musters Animal health segment with nis Vets adding value
through practical advice and service, no gimmicks, no potions, total
vet care.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Andrew cot Cronavenius Vets in Riversdale, where he's based, joins
us once again.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Cocky. Good afternoon, Good afternoon, Andy, How are you pretty good?
Hell's the weekend? Good?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Thanks? Good? Good rain which was nice, and just caught
up on some jobs around the house, so all caught up,
which was good.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, Riversdale has been in need of a good rain,
Let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It has been. Yet we've had a great sort of
ten days. Whetherwise it's sort of the summer we never had.
But yeah, certainly needed a rain. So with the way
things out today, we should see a bit of growth again,
which would be good.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So you guys are busy at the moment, starting off
of BBD testing.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, the funny time of year. We sort of finished
the bulk of the dairy scanning. We're doing a bit
of beef scanning. But it's a wee bit of a
quite a period as we lead into peak ceiling and
drawing off cows. So it's a good opportunity to get
some some bloods done. So this morning. That's been the
main job BVD blood testing some beef carves that have
(01:09):
been weaned, so worthwhile having a conversation about we can
still do it through the MBOVERA scheme. They're still wanting
more cattle screened for that to make sure the prove
that we are free of the disease. So it's a
chance to do that quite cheaply, and certainly don't want
BVD creeping into the herd. So dairy, young stock and
(01:30):
beef at weaning is worth thinking about BBD, whether you
do every animal like I have been this morning, or
whether you do the screening test to see that exposures
where exposure is at.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Do the majority of people test for BBD?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Probably not, No, The dairy guys are all doing it
through their bulk milk, or most are doing through their
bulk milk, which is great, and that's a pretty good
measure of where things are at. There's probably not a
huge amount of dairy guys doing exposure testing or testing
in the young stock. They're sort of more relying on
that milk test, which which can result in some slip ups,
(02:05):
and then beef guys, it's probably only sort of fifty
percent I would guess that are doing anything, A lot
will do exposure testing, which is often sufficient. So through
the ENBOVA scheme we can get an idea of exposure
for only fifty dollars, So the government's covering the cost
of the vet time and the mileage and then it's
(02:25):
only fifty dollars of a lab fees to test exposure.
So yeah, a reasonably cheap tool to be able to
see where you're at.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Let's say it's a no brainer if it's only fifty bucks,
pretty close to.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
A no brainer. BVD can have some huge impacts if
you let it get away.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Ken of what now dairy teat ceiling and heifer's not
too far away.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
No, I think we've got our first one this week,
which is a bit of a scary thought. So probably
just a reminder of everyone if you haven't booked in already,
to make sure you do that. And yeah, we'll be
into that pretty soon. Drawing off is sneaking up too,
so we're starting to get into a little bit of
dry cow consulting and discussing the changes that are happening
in that space, and then some condition scoring, So a
(03:07):
good time of year to be condition scoring. Your whole heard,
so every animal individually, and then we can match that
up with their carving date and decide whether or not
they need to be managed any differently. So if you've
got light, skinny cows that are early carving, while worthwhile
drawing them off a few weeks earlier, month earli if
you have to give them a chance to get back
towards target condition. If they're a skinny cow but aren't
(03:28):
carving till the twentieth of September, then we can probably
leave them because they're going to get plenty of time
at the other end to get that condition on. So
quite a useful tool. There's plenty of evidence around the
impact of condition score on milk production and reproduction. So
making sure that we're reaching those carving targets sort of
starts now.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
It's probably a good chance for staff as well. They
haven't been doing too much body condition scoring. Just when
you guys are there and doing the actual job, you
can understanding of what's involved.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, we'll certainly have some guys yep, exactly. That's get
sort of calibrated by us as we're doing it to
make sure that what we're calling a four four and
a half is similar to what they're calling. The main
thing really to be fear is that you're consistent. So
if if you're adding it on farm and maybe you're
not giving quite the same score as us, at least
if you're consistent, you can you can still be picking
(04:18):
out like cows consistently.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
The rams is that time of years in nooss out.
They'll be going out very very shortly. Just a good
chance to go over the boys and make sure they're
at peak performance.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, so a good chunk of them will have been
ve checked when now there's still a handful that we're
catching up on over the next sort of ten days.
But even those ones that you know were checked six
weeks six eight weeks ago should just be checked again.
For things like feet, a lot can happen in a
few weeks, so making sure that you've taken care of
any lame rams before they go out. Obviously, if he saw,
he's less likely to be able to get around and
(04:52):
to mount those yews. But's if their feet are bad
enough that he's got an infection and a fever that
can actually ren room infertile for six weeks. So we
don't want to be dealing with that sort of thing.
So if you've got rams that have got particularly bad
feet at a swollen or got bad in fictions, they
may also need penicillin to take care of that, and
(05:14):
just be cautious of the fact that they may not
be as fertile as they otherwise would be.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I remember at this time of year too, with the
weather being a bit warmer and the boys tend to
be fighting what they do. How you get a few
crowd marks as well. Sometimes it gets infected. To just
be weary of that.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, infections, and we commonly get flyblow there as well.
You know, it's something that we've got to keep an
eye on. The rams can often be a little bit neglected,
so we'll often be talking about making sure seleniums are
good and lambs and news and the ram never gets
to need selenium. So again, if the rams haven't had
selenium at all, it might be a silly idea to
give them a mineral drench before they go out, to
(05:48):
make sure that they're well and truly covered to for
sperm house and facility.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
And just while we're talking about baby flies, you speak
to you a couple of weeks ago about the about
blow fly situation as such, have we seen any changes there.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
No, it probably hasn't blown up as much as I
thought it might have, and maybe I'm just not hearing
about it and it's timmy. Yet people are fairly fairly
well dipped. To be fair too, I know there's a
fair bit of dipping happening, and obviously user getting Mark
Sean as well, which takes care of a bit of
fly as well. So probably hasn't been as bad as
I thought it may have been with the conditions were
certainly right for it and still are, although we've got
(06:23):
a wee bit of wind again today which will sort
of be making it hard to be a fly. But
there's something to keep an eye on. If we're seeing
fly struck animals at this close to the meeting, that's
pretty much making them an empty are.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Dry Andrew the team at in his fence? How do
people get in touch?
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You give us a call at the clinic. If we
are not available, leave a message and we'll do our
best to get back to you. But more than happy
to have you.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
On good only Andrew, always appreciate your time on the muster.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Awesome to Danny.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Andrew Cochrane of any fits in Riversdale. Official animal health
advisors to the muster. Clayton Peters of it IS Genetics
is up next. We sent over to Harriet
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