Routine Large Animal Services
Routine work for all species includes the usual emergencies and disease investigations as well as pregnancy testing of cattle and deer. Our dedicated large animal Veterinarians are ably supported by nursing support staff who carry out Faecal Egg Counts, pasture Nitrate tests, and basic blood tests using the in clinic Idexx Minilab. The advantage of these being done at the clinic is the same day results can be given back to farmers when samples are delivered to us prior to 14.00 (2pm). Liver biopsies for cattle, sheep and deer can be co-ordinated with meat processing plants and other samples are sent overnight to a Veterinary Pathology Laboratory with good turn around times.
Vet Services
Special services offered for the different species include:
Sheep
- Investigating flock fertility, lamb survival and poor lamb growth rate problems
- Advisor for Sheep for Profit
- Product trials for several Animal Health companies
- Footrot Control Accredited veterinarian
- Ram testing
- Ram vasectomies
Beef
- Bull fertility testing including Serving Capacity testing
- Pregnancy scanning – manual and ultrasounds
- Trace Element diagnostics including liver biopsies
- Investigations into poor growth rates of younger animals
Deer
- Velvet removal
- Velveting supervision and training
- Pregnancy scanning
Dairy Cows
- Reproductive management including ultrasound aging and scanning and management of infertility and anoestrous cows
- Trace element analysis, and management of supplementation requirements
- Milk Quality assessment and advice
- Calf Debudding using sedation and local nerve blocks
- Disease control and prevention eg Leptospirosis, BVD, calf health
Pigs
- General health and production
- Pregnancy scanning
- Nose ring application
- Disease control and prevention eg Leptospirosis, BVC, pig health
Bull Fitness for Mating
We use a modified Blocky Cradle Test for annually assessing bull libido and examining them fully for mechanical defects. This allows us to check the ability of run bulls to perform adequately for the coming season, allowing farmers to replace unfit or incapable bulls before the mating season, rather than waiting until pregnancy testing when the damage has been done. The testing is efficient and humane to cows. The test is also used for young stud bulls, giving breeders the very valuable sales tool of having a quantified predicted number of cows that a bull will be able to mate in a season. Where applicable bulls are also tested for BVD.
Ram Testing
Our vets run a fast and efficient ram testing service, palpating run and stud rams, and blood testing for Brucellosis for stud farms or where problems arise. This is an important preventative medicine practice which we urge all sheep farmers to include on their annual calendar.
Drench Resistance Testing
Drench Resistance is one of the most dangerous problems facing New Zealand farmers, with currently available anthelminics becoming progressively less effective. It is estimated that 80% of NZ farms have worms resistant to BZ (white) drenches, up to 30% to Levamisole, and possibly 20% to combination drenches. Some Ivermectin resistance is already recorded, and it is critical that your drenching programme uses the correct drenches, and that they are used strategically to delay the inevitable march of drench resistance. At The Vet Centre we keep long term records of our farmers’ anthelmintic programmes, and provide faecal egg count testing in clinic, to give rapid data to help you with decision making. Our veterinarians have long years of experience in the field, being one of the first clinics to embrace the concept and its implications from the 1980’s. We are more than happy to help you in developing a programme to suit your property and can do specific faecal egg count reduction tests to assess which anthelmintics you can or cannot use for your property.
Animal Health Calendars
These are tailored to individual farms and specific for each property. Farmers are emailed monthly with reminders of important management practices such as when to vaccinate, pregnancy test the cows, put the rams out etc during the next month. Ordering of product or arranging a time to get us to do a specific on farm job is made easy through this system. A wall planner with month by month summary of jobs to do on farm is also a part of the program. Many farmers are now finding these Animal Health Calendars to be an invaluable aid to their management. The animal health calendar programme is an excellent way to allow the veterinarian to gain a more detailed insight and understanding of the goals of your farming enterprise, and thus provide the best advice accordingly.
Key Account Clients
Those farmer clients who are strong supporters of the practice can become Key Account Clients by supporting The Vet Centre with their on farm veterinary work and with retail purchases. Key Account Clients benefits include receiving animal health and product advice at no cost, bimonthly large animal newsletters free of charge, annual cattle pregnancy testing results and analysis, and heavily reduced fees for animal health calendars and other reports. We believe this is a win-win arrangement for both farmer and the practice and makes for an excellent working relationship.
We offer your horses, ponies and donkeys:
Routine surgical procedures in the field
- Wound Repair & Management
- Routine Castration (Wolf Teeth can be removed at the same time)
- Dental Extractions