Farm Care

Our clients have come to rely on the collective experience of our vets who understand their needs and priorities. V.E. Vets has a long and proud history of providing the best in veterinary services to the region's dairy, sheep and beef farmers. Our vets have the experience, knowledge and understanding of the animal health needs specific to both dry stock and dairy farms, within both small and large scale operations. We are focused on building trusting relationships and proving an asset to your farming balance sheet through appropriate use of our services.

Dairy Services

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Restricted Veterinary Medicine (RVM)

An annual RVM consult allows you to get authorisation to use, purchase and holding of prescription medications for animals.

Planned Animal Health Advisory Services (VHM animal health plan)

Our vets can put together a calendar-style animal health plan that can be set up to send email and/or text message reminders directly to you and/or your staff. This can help prompt you to complete certain animal health tasks (such as vaccinations, drenching or pregnancy scanning) on time.

This service is free of charge for our clients.

Lameness

Lame cows are not only an extra cost but are often a serious welfare issue. Early treatment is key and our vets are able to help you assess the damage and cause of the lameness.

Pregnancy Scanning

Ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis is an integral part of managing a dairy farm. This information will aid in important farm decisions such as culling and feed budgeting. Expected calving dates can be most accurately determined if your cows are between 6-12 weeks of pregnancy; our vets are able to determine definitive pregnancy from 35 days onwards.

Facial Eczema Spore Counting/Monitoring

Facial eczema becomes a risk when grass temperatures are consistently above 12◦C. Typically, this falls in December/January through to the Autumn. Knowing what the facial eczema spore counts are doing is integral to management of the risk during this time of year.

Pasture samples can be dropped to our Te Awamutu or Otorohanga branch for spore counting and results will be phoned to you within the same day.

Reproduction Management

Our vets can help you optimise reproduction in your herd by metri-checking and treating uterine infections, assessing and treating non-cycling cows, implementing heifer/cow synchronisation programmes, and performing pregnancy diagnosis.

Disbudding

Disbudding helps to reduce the risk of injury to both stock and farmers by removing the horn buds on calves between the age of two and six weeks. At V.E. Vets we always have a veterinarian present and use a gold standard approach (sedation and local anaesthetic). We can also provide vaccinations, ongoing pain relief and other veterinary services (e.g. checking navels, removal of extra teats, BVD & DNA earnotch) if requested.

Herd dry off

Herd dry-off is the process of stopping lactation to give dairy cows an essential 6-to-8- week rest before calving. It allows the cows to build body condition. We have a great team of technicians that can help you get this job done efficiently and hygienically.

Heifer Teat Sealing

Teat sealing heifers can dramatically reduce the clinical mastitis associated with calving and we have a great team to help you get this important job done safely and hygienically. Ideally, teat sealant should be applied 4-6 weeks prior to the start of calving. We advise booking this well in advance due to the high demand.

Body Condition scoring

Body condition scoring (BCS) is a practical, standardized method used to estimate an animal's body fat reserves and nutritional health.

Annual Vaccinations

Cow's require annual vaccinations against reproductive and clostridial diseases to maintain herd immunity, protect unborn calves and prevent zoonotic infections.

Diagnostics

We have a wide range of diagnostics we can complete in the clinic, including spore counting, nitrate testing, calf scour sample testing, faecal egg counts, somatic cell counts and some blood work. Other diagnostics are sent to various laboratories for testing, mostly located in the Waikato.

Milk quality consults

Our vets can discuss with you how your milk quality has been this season. The vets will also go through any clinical mastitis cases, somatic cell count, herd test results and treatment efficacy, udder health (teat conditioning). If you are having high SCC problem's the team can come out and RMT your herd.

Certification of Livestock for Transport or Sale Purposes

Individual livestock or groups may require a veterinarian to certify that they are fit for transport or certify that certain standards have been met for sale purposes (e.g. bulls are BVD free and vaccinated, or herds have been pregnancy tested).

Sheep and Beef Services

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Planned animal health advisory services (VHM animal health plan)

Our vets can put together a calendar-style animal health plan that can be set up to send email and/or text message reminders directly to you and/or your staff. This can help prompt you to complete certain animal health tasks (such as vaccinations, drenching or pregnancy scanning) on time. This service is free of charge for our clients.

Beef cow pregnancy scanning

Ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis is an integral part of farming beef cattle. This valuable information will aid you in making important decisions such as culling and feed budgeting.

Ram breeding soundness exams and Brucellosis monitoring

Screening breeding rams for potential fertility and health problems in the lead up to tupping is very worthwhile in order to avoid poor pregnancy rates in ewes. We can also assist you in complying with the Brucellosis accreditation scheme. Typically, we offer an annual ‘ram palpation run’ in November and December.

Parasite control

Control of internal and external parasites is a cornerstone of sheep and beef farming. Our friendly vets can provide advice on which products to use on all classes of animals. We can put together a complete drenching programme or answer a simple question for you.

Vaccination programmes

In order to reach their potential, animals need to be fit and healthy. Vaccinations are a key part of preventing some common diseases. Our vets can advise you on a complete vaccination programme for all stock on your farm, or aid in making decisions about a particular type of vaccine. Common vaccinations on sheep and beef farms include vaccinations for Clostridial Diseases, Toxoplasmosis, Campylobacteriosis, Salmonellosis, Leptospirosis, Scabby Mouth and BVD.

Minerals

Mineral monitoring and supplementation is an important aspect of stock performance. We can help you monitor the status of your stock using blood sampling and/or liver biopsies. Minerals commonly monitored on sheep and beef farms include copper, cobalt and selenium. Our team can also advise you on supplementation of these (and other) minerals.

Facial eczema spore counting/monitoring

Facial eczema becomes a risk when grass temperatures are consistently above 12◦C. Typically, this falls in December/January through to the Autumn. Knowing what the facial eczema spore counts are doing is integral to management of the risk during this time of year.

Pasture samples can be dropped to our Te Awamutu or Otorohanga branch for spore counting and results will be phoned to you within the same day.

Diagnostics

Sometimes, individual animals or groups of livestock may become unwell, fail to respond to treatment, or experience outbreaks of disease. In these situations, our veterinarians can examine your stock, take appropriate samples for laboratory testing and provide advice on the best way to manage the situation at hand.

Certification of livestock for transport

Individual livestock may require a veterinarian to certify that they are fit for transport.

Working dog health checks and vaccinations

Your working dogs are invaluable and drystock farmers often have a large team of them. During November and December our vets do an annual ‘dog vaccination run’ which is specifically targeted towards these animals.

Lifestyle

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Drenching

Regular drenching for livestock is important for control internal and external parasites.

Animal Health plans

Lifestock animal health plans

Annual Vaccinations

Annual vaccinations. (Alpacas, sheep, pigs, goats, horses)

Branding, microchipping and identification certification

We can perform freeze branding, microchip insertion or verification and documentation of coat colour and markings for identification purposes.

Gelding

Castration of stallions.