September 11, 2025 • 8 mins
Andrew Cochrane of NS Vets looks at animal health issues as the Spring farming cycle kicks into full swing.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The Muster's Animal Health segment brought to you by n
S Bets adding value through practical advice and service, no gimmicks,
no patience, total bet care.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Andrew Cochrane of Northern South and Vet Space in Riversdale
in his fits of course animal Health Suppliers of knowledge
here on the Muster. Good afternoon, how things cocky?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Good? Thanks? Andy? Better now that the rains stop. But
it's some dirty showers going.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Through just September being September, I suppose, yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It's unfortunately August. August is often an doesn't it. We
should be all aiming in August maybe, but certainly horrible
spring weather out there today.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Pretty much now carvings starting to get well through. One
thing that seems to be an issue calf scours. What's
the situation.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, and it seems to have been a reasonably big
issue nationwide. So there's a shortage of some of the
common therapies that will use for scaring calves, in particular
rhodogen because there's been a reasone number of calf scales
throughout the country. We're probably just seeing pretty standard rules
of calf scales for our clients, but plenty of them
(01:15):
as per normal, so most of them coming back as roadavirus,
which is very typical of what we see. So it's
just a reminder for people to be aware regardless of
what is causing the scales. As I think I've said before,
the main cause of death is the hydration, so the
main treatment is electrolytes. We do get clients coming in
(01:38):
wanting antibiotics, but like I've said already, roadavirus is the
main cause, and obviously being a virus, antibiotics are particularly useful.
So it's electrolytes that are the key. And most of
the time what it comes back to is costrum management
and how we're managing getting good quality clostrum quickly and
enough quantity into each calf, and that's certainly the best
(02:01):
thing we can do as far as prevention goes.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
As far as our breaks road a virus andrew are
you seeing much of it here?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We are not, probably more than normal. I don't think
I haven't looked at that specifically, but we are. The
Most of the calf scaler tests that we're running have
coming back as roadavirus, which is very typical, and we're
getting a few through the doors as we always do.
Especially at this time of year. As we're getting later
into the season, the bugs start to build up, some
(02:29):
of our good practices start to slip with a bit
of fatigue, I think, and maybe the clossroom isn't as
good a quality as it was earlier on. So all
of those things sort of combine to seeing more scalers
and nasty outbreaks of this time of year.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Carrying on with the cow saying, metro checking all on
swing now, Yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
We're sort of getting through carving now a bit of
a mixed bag, but a lot of people are sort
of getting closer to eighty percent through and starting to
think about mating already. So we are in the process
of metro checking herds and getting those cows cleaned up
prior to mating, and looking at taking some pre mating
bloods just to see where minerals are sitting, and making
(03:08):
sure that everything you think you're getting into your cows
is there and enough in adequate supply.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
BBD testing as well bulls, heifers, and the likes of
course bovine viral diarrhea. It's not nice, but it's just
something it's about, so vaccinating for that so obviously given, Yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
That's in the beef and the dairy space. So we
are doing a reasonable amount of BBD testing at the
moment and both service balls before they are used in
the mating which is coming up, and in heifers to
make sure what we're bringing into our herd is a
replacement animal going to the ball is also clear, and
often in case of the heifers, that just requires an
(03:47):
exposure test, especially if you are a BVD free herd,
We'll just test exposure in your heifers make sure that
they are clear, and that's a simple cheap test to do.
In the case of balls, we're often doing them individually,
and that's what I was doing smailing and horrible Southerly conditions.
Blood testing balls before sale, So most balls, if you're
buying them from recrutable sources, we'll be having them tested
(04:09):
before and usually vaccinated. So for those heifers and balls
that will require two shots, we should be thinking about
getting that first BVD vaccine into them this month because
they'll need a second shot in four to six weeks time,
and then that needs to be ideally sort of four
weeks or more before mating, So that sort of means
that first shot has to be done furnish. We see
(04:31):
BBD every year in both dairy and in beef. It's
probably more commonly seen in beef days because of the
ease of keeping on top of BBD with bulk milk
testing and dairy herds. Most people are pretty good at that,
But those bulk milk tests usually happen in October, so
we haven't really sort of seen any dairy uprex YPT.
(04:52):
But it's often in October following that first bulk milk
test that we'll see our first BBD incursions and herds,
and that usually can be cleared up by testing the
young stock that have been introduced to the herd from
last year and the beef spade. Yeah, the guys that
are proactive and are testing each year are pretty good
at staying VVD three. But I'm sure there are farms
(05:13):
out there that are still running with BVD in their herd,
either with their knowledge or without. And there's never been
the cheaper time to be checking those herds because with
the ENBOVA scheme, we be running BVD bloves to see
what's going on in your herd. Very cheap pea because
the ENBOVA scheme paste or most of those costs. So
I certainly encourage farmers if they haven't checked their herd
(05:36):
or they are doing it annually, to put it through
the ENBOVA scheme and save some money there.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Hey, Andrew, I'll throw this one at you as well,
regarding late crop use on winter crops. What's a couple
of reminders you need to keep in the back of
your mind.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So the biggest issue is with flowering crops, So the
most common one would be kale. And with the flowering
and the maturity of those crops, we'll see and then
in the SMCO which can become toxic. So there isn't
as much of an issue if stock have been grazing
that crop all the way through because they have been adapting,
(06:10):
is those SMCO levels rise. But if you've got a
mob of stock that have class stock that have come
off Let's say you've taken news off because they're close
to lamming, but you've still got some crop left that's
going to fouler and you think, oh, well, I might
clean that up with some cattle if they haven't been
exposed to that crop leading up to this point, and
you chuck them straight onto this flowering kale. You can
(06:32):
certainly result in SMCO toxicity and the most common as
symptoms of that bloody urine or animals that are lethargic
maybe have they sort of it affects their blood cells
and I'll get hemoglobe in your ear. So what we
could often also see is, you know, animals that are
leagging behind, maybe having a bit of difficulty with breathing
(06:54):
or dead. So certainly advise caution if you're chucking a
mob of stock onto the that's flowering without any prior
transitional prior feeding of that crop, we can certainly see problems.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
At about keeping rougher jap to them and the likes
of imagine, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
So you certainly want it, wouldn't want it to be
one hundred percent of their diaryither so making sure there's
plenty of supplements. But I would strongly advise caution if
you're putting a mob that hasn't been on crop yet
onto a flowering crop, you're it's a bit of a
recipe for disaster if you're not careful.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Andrew the best way to get in touch of in
his fits give us a.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Call here in Riversdale on three to two six three
six you might be lucky to get a bit at
this time of year, but certainly leave a message and
we'll get back in touch. Or in tianw on three
two four nine seven zero three nine.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Andrew cochran out of in his fits. Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Awesome, Thanks Andy, have a good weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Andrew Andrew Cochrane of in his fits, spaced out of
Riversdale on a Friday afternoon. We're away to catch up
with Fill Dunken out of weather Watch. Now get a
run down on the weather for the next seven days
down here in the South. Hasn't do
The Muster's Animal Health segment brought to you by n
S Bets adding value through practical advice and service, no gimmicks,
no patience, total bet care.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Andrew Cochrane of Northern South and Vet Space in Riversdale
in his fits of course animal Health Suppliers of knowledge
here on the Muster. Good afternoon, how things cocky?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Good? Thanks? Andy? Better now that the rains stop. But
it's some dirty showers going.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Through just September being September, I suppose, yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It's unfortunately August. August is often an doesn't it. We
should be all aiming in August maybe, but certainly horrible
spring weather out there today.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Pretty much now carvings starting to get well through. One
thing that seems to be an issue calf scours. What's
the situation.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, and it seems to have been a reasonably big
issue nationwide. So there's a shortage of some of the
common therapies that will use for scaring calves, in particular
rhodogen because there's been a reasone number of calf scales
throughout the country. We're probably just seeing pretty standard rules
of calf scales for our clients, but plenty of them
(01:15):
as per normal, so most of them coming back as roadavirus,
which is very typical of what we see. So it's
just a reminder for people to be aware regardless of
what is causing the scales. As I think I've said before,
the main cause of death is the hydration, so the
main treatment is electrolytes. We do get clients coming in
(01:38):
wanting antibiotics, but like I've said already, roadavirus is the
main cause, and obviously being a virus, antibiotics are particularly useful.
So it's electrolytes that are the key. And most of
the time what it comes back to is costrum management
and how we're managing getting good quality clostrum quickly and
enough quantity into each calf, and that's certainly the best
(02:01):
thing we can do as far as prevention goes.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
As far as our breaks road a virus andrew are
you seeing much of it here?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We are not, probably more than normal. I don't think
I haven't looked at that specifically, but we are. The
Most of the calf scaler tests that we're running have
coming back as roadavirus, which is very typical, and we're
getting a few through the doors as we always do.
Especially at this time of year. As we're getting later
into the season, the bugs start to build up, some
(02:29):
of our good practices start to slip with a bit
of fatigue, I think, and maybe the clossroom isn't as
good a quality as it was earlier on. So all
of those things sort of combine to seeing more scalers
and nasty outbreaks of this time of year.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Carrying on with the cow saying, metro checking all on
swing now, Yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
We're sort of getting through carving now a bit of
a mixed bag, but a lot of people are sort
of getting closer to eighty percent through and starting to
think about mating already. So we are in the process
of metro checking herds and getting those cows cleaned up
prior to mating, and looking at taking some pre mating
bloods just to see where minerals are sitting, and making
(03:08):
sure that everything you think you're getting into your cows
is there and enough in adequate supply.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
BBD testing as well bulls, heifers, and the likes of
course bovine viral diarrhea. It's not nice, but it's just
something it's about, so vaccinating for that so obviously given, Yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
That's in the beef and the dairy space. So we
are doing a reasonable amount of BBD testing at the
moment and both service balls before they are used in
the mating which is coming up, and in heifers to
make sure what we're bringing into our herd is a
replacement animal going to the ball is also clear, and
often in case of the heifers, that just requires an
(03:47):
exposure test, especially if you are a BVD free herd,
We'll just test exposure in your heifers make sure that
they are clear, and that's a simple cheap test to do.
In the case of balls, we're often doing them individually,
and that's what I was doing smailing and horrible Southerly conditions.
Blood testing balls before sale, So most balls, if you're
buying them from recrutable sources, we'll be having them tested
(04:09):
before and usually vaccinated. So for those heifers and balls
that will require two shots, we should be thinking about
getting that first BVD vaccine into them this month because
they'll need a second shot in four to six weeks time,
and then that needs to be ideally sort of four
weeks or more before mating, So that sort of means
that first shot has to be done furnish. We see
(04:31):
BBD every year in both dairy and in beef. It's
probably more commonly seen in beef days because of the
ease of keeping on top of BBD with bulk milk
testing and dairy herds. Most people are pretty good at that,
But those bulk milk tests usually happen in October, so
we haven't really sort of seen any dairy uprex YPT.
(04:52):
But it's often in October following that first bulk milk
test that we'll see our first BBD incursions and herds,
and that usually can be cleared up by testing the
young stock that have been introduced to the herd from
last year and the beef spade. Yeah, the guys that
are proactive and are testing each year are pretty good
at staying VVD three. But I'm sure there are farms
(05:13):
out there that are still running with BVD in their herd,
either with their knowledge or without. And there's never been
the cheaper time to be checking those herds because with
the ENBOVA scheme, we be running BVD bloves to see
what's going on in your herd. Very cheap pea because
the ENBOVA scheme paste or most of those costs. So
I certainly encourage farmers if they haven't checked their herd
(05:36):
or they are doing it annually, to put it through
the ENBOVA scheme and save some money there.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Hey, Andrew, I'll throw this one at you as well,
regarding late crop use on winter crops. What's a couple
of reminders you need to keep in the back of
your mind.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So the biggest issue is with flowering crops, So the
most common one would be kale. And with the flowering
and the maturity of those crops, we'll see and then
in the SMCO which can become toxic. So there isn't
as much of an issue if stock have been grazing
that crop all the way through because they have been adapting,
(06:10):
is those SMCO levels rise. But if you've got a
mob of stock that have class stock that have come
off Let's say you've taken news off because they're close
to lamming, but you've still got some crop left that's
going to fouler and you think, oh, well, I might
clean that up with some cattle if they haven't been
exposed to that crop leading up to this point, and
you chuck them straight onto this flowering kale. You can
(06:32):
certainly result in SMCO toxicity and the most common as
symptoms of that bloody urine or animals that are lethargic
maybe have they sort of it affects their blood cells
and I'll get hemoglobe in your ear. So what we
could often also see is, you know, animals that are
leagging behind, maybe having a bit of difficulty with breathing
(06:54):
or dead. So certainly advise caution if you're chucking a
mob of stock onto the that's flowering without any prior
transitional prior feeding of that crop, we can certainly see problems.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
At about keeping rougher jap to them and the likes
of imagine, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
So you certainly want it, wouldn't want it to be
one hundred percent of their diaryither so making sure there's
plenty of supplements. But I would strongly advise caution if
you're putting a mob that hasn't been on crop yet
onto a flowering crop, you're it's a bit of a
recipe for disaster if you're not careful.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Andrew the best way to get in touch of in
his fits give us a.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Call here in Riversdale on three to two six three
six you might be lucky to get a bit at
this time of year, but certainly leave a message and
we'll get back in touch. Or in tianw on three
two four nine seven zero three nine.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Andrew cochran out of in his fits. Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Awesome, Thanks Andy, have a good weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Andrew Andrew Cochrane of in his fits, spaced out of
Riversdale on a Friday afternoon. We're away to catch up
with Fill Dunken out of weather Watch. Now get a
run down on the weather for the next seven days
down here in the South. Hasn't do
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