Tips for September
• Check for mastitis in milking does, ewes and cows, most commonly seen on the second or third day after delivery. First signs will be a severe hardening anywhere on the udder, ranging in size from a flattened golf ball to the entire udder. The udder will appear hot and swollen, and the animal will be reluctant to feed her young. The milk will look watery, may be blood-stained, and/or contain clots or pus. Call your vet as the animal will need antibiotics urgently.
• Lambs more than five hours old have a better chance of recovering from chilling if they receive an injection of dextrose before they're warmed up. They will have used up the energy stores they were born with. If they are then warmed up but don't have adequate energy stores, they will die. Dextrose must be dilute and injected into the abdomen – talk to your vet. Read more: www.thisnzlife.co.nz
• Treat the navels of all new-born calves, lambs, and kids. Dip in or spray with iodine right up to the belly as soon as possible after birth. Be vigilant in checking for signs of navel ill. Symptoms include:
• a moist and/or swollen cord, especially up near the belly;
• discharge;
• a bad smell;
• depression/not feeding;
• swollen joints.
Animals can die if not treated quickly – talk to your vet.
•'Creeping' your lambs out is an inexpensive and simple way to get better weight gain, especially in twins. This method uses a gap in gates to allow lambs to ‘creep' through to eat longer pasture in a next-door paddock, but also return to their mothers when they wish. Creep grazed lambs can be up to 5kg heavier than those not creep grazed. The method works best if lambs can ‘creep' from the age of 5 weeks (to give them a week to get used to moving through the gates) until weaning. Painting creep gates orange makes it easier for lambs to find the gates. The system works best on flat land, and lambs feeding on red clover and rape. The bonus: the small amount of grazing by the lambs tends to improve pasture regrowth.
• Ewes that have lambed should be on your best feed. Keep any ewes that are due to lamb as close to the house as possible so you can keep an eye on them and help out if necessary.
• Scours in lambs and ewes in spring can be from lush pasture, thought to be caused by high nitrates or sugars. Feeding out hay can help reduce scouring. You also need to rule out a parasite burden, and the best way to do this is by using a Faecal Egg Count Reduction Test (FECRT):
• collect faeces from animals not drenched for at least four weeks - it can be representative (10 animals from a large herd/flock) or from every animal if you have small numbers;
• take to your vet the same day so they can assess the parasite burden;
• weigh animals to get accurate drench levels, and drench;
• retake faecal samples 7-10 days later – get your vet to check for drench effectiveness.
Tests are a good way to find out if a drench is working, and if parasites are showing resistance to it.
• Check pregnant cows twice a day. Have those that have already calved on your best pasture.
• Magnesium deficiency can show up in spring, usually in pregnancy or after calving. It's more common in cows that have been fed hay and silage and not much grass over winter. Cows may appear excitable and agitated, then collapse and thrash around. Feed magnesium every day. It can be provided in a 'lick' but a cow needs to lick it often for it to be effective. Some farmers use slow-release bullets just before cows give birth, injectable magnesium, or powder added to molasses and spread on hay.
• Talk to your vet about a vaccination schedule for your livestock and any young animals they have produced this spring. Vaccinating a mother before she gives birth may provide some protection, but calves, lambs, kids, and cria (baby alpaca) will require vaccination and boosters to protect them from a range of diseases.