As of 1st October 2019, the law changed around calf disbudding and dehorning.
It is now, according to regulation 57 and 58 of the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations 2018, a legal requirement that any cattle beast of any age undergoing disbudding or dehorning must be under the influence of appropriately placed and effective local anaesthetic (as a minimum) pain relief.
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Hopefully you have all had some time to recharge the batteries before the mayhem of calving …here are some common tips to aim for when collecting calves and getting them to their calf pens this calving period:
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Bovine viral diarrhoea occurs throughout NZ and the impact is a huge costs: studies show approx.. $140/cow/year for an infected herd. The biggest cost to farmers relates to early pregnancy losses.
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Now is the time to organise your rotavirus vaccine. It must be remembered this is PART of the process of great calf rearing management. The vaccine works by increasing the amount of antibodies in the cow’s colostrum to rotavirus, coronavirus and E-coli.
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Brought up on her families pedigree Holstein herd and after studying an Animal Health degree at Harper Adams Agricultural College, Anna moved to Sydney to study her Vet degree. After graduating in 2006 she then worked in mixed practice in NSW before working in England in dairy practice before the move to NZ in 2010.
Anna undertook and passed a membership in dairy cattle medicine in 2013: this is recognition of advanced level knowledge and experience in this topic. Outside of work her three children, horses, dogs and Suffolk sheep stud keep her busy!
Professional interests include reproduction, mastitis and infectious disease, particularly BVD. Anna has a keen interest in data analysis and identifying areas where gains can be made in reproduction and animal health. Accredited BCS scorer.
Nathan completed an Agriculture degree before spending two years working in the USA on feedlot dairies and a dairy farm in NZ before heading back to University to study Veterinary Science. After graduating he worked in dairy practice in the UK before settling in NZ.
Passionate about all aspects of dairy farming he ran a calf rearing business in the UK and then started rearing dairy heifers and carrying over dairy cows in NZ. Nathan enjoys spending time on the mini farm while away from work, his cow passion continues with his Speckle Park stud.
His professional interests include calf rearing, nutrition and farm economics. Accredited BCS scorer.
Angharad (Harry) joined the practice in December 2020 after graduating from the University of Liverpool. She has always had a keen interest in NZ dairy farming and grew up with kiwi cross cows on her parents block calving dairy farm in Leicestershire. Professionally Harry has interests in young-stock management and reproduction but mostly just enjoys all aspects of being out on farm.
Outside of work she spends her time swimming and hiking and is very much looking forward to taking advantage of all the beautiful scenery NZ has to offer.
Accredited BSC scorer.
Phil has worked with Dairy Vets for since 2017, before that working locally as a dairy vet for three years. He has made NZ his home after being brought up on his family farm in Oxfordshire and working in farm animal vet practice in Wiltshire, UK. Professionally he has a passion for cow lameness and surgery. Outside of work he is an adrenaline sports enthusiast and enjoys skiing and trail riding to name a few!
Accredited BCS scorer. Accredited Health hoof advisor. In the process to become an accredited Fonterra milk quality assessor.
James joined us as a locum in 2017 having worked as a farm animal vet in Scotland. It didn’t take him long to realise NZ had much better weather than Scotland and became a permanent member of the team! James enjoying taking himself on exciting adventures all over the south island when he’s not working. He enjoying tramping, mountain bike riding and crossfit.
Professionally James has a interests in surgery and mastitis. Accredited BCS scorer. In process to become an accredited Fonterra milk quality assessor.
Polly joined our technician team in 2020. Originally from the North Island she bring a lot of dairy experience having working on dairy and research farms as well as more recently being involved with the M.Bovis response on their sampling team.
Accredited Dairy NZ condition scorer.
Sherree has been part of the team since 2017, bringing with her a wealth of experience; having worked locally as a full time dairy technician for 15 years. She is team leader for our technician team and loves getting out on farm and getting stuck in!
Outside of work she enjoys multi-sport events, mountain biking and the outdoors.
Accredited Dairy NZ condition scorer.
Abbie joined us as a full time technician in July 2019 after doing a couple months as a casual on the teat seal team. She is originally from South Otago and was brought up on dairy farms.
Outside of work Abbie enjoys competitive horse endurance and competitive trail riding where she has won national awards on her horse Sparky. Also enjoys anything outdoors from mountain biking to hunting.
Accredited Dairy NZ condition scorer
Nicky has been with us since we first started having a manned office. She is our office manager and keeps all the team and the office organised! As well as reception duties she is kept busy with stock control and managing accounts
Nicky enjoys fishing and boating and family time outside of work
Jo joined Nicky in 2019 to help with our calving season; we then realised we couldn’t manage without her and she became a permanent team member! She is the always happy voice at the other end of the phone!
When not at work she enjoys spending time on her lifestyle block or heading away in the Motorhome with her husband and their dog Wolfie.
Thank you for your enquiry. Please complete the form below and a copy of our Farm Health Care Plans, will be emailed to you. If you would like to discuss plan pricing and any other details, please feel free to contact us.
Thank you for your enquiry about our Farm Health Care Plan packages and pricing. Please complete the form below and we will email to you a copy of our brochure including pricing.
Please note pricing will be emailed by our administration team during normal business hours.
If you would like to discuss plan pricing and any other details, please feel free to call us on 03 308 0493
Dan is originally from Sydney, where he graduated from University of Sydney in 2017. He spent his first 2 years in practice working in Yorkshire Dales in the UK. He has always had a passion for dairy work and in 2020 made the move to New Zealand to join the team at Dairy Vets. Professional interests include bovine surgery and lameness.
Sally joined the team in January ’21 with our second clinic opening in Rakaia. She brings with her a wealth of experience having been dairy farming since 1995. Outside of work she enjoys the outdoors, spending time helping on the run-off with the young stock, catching up with family, walking and gardening.
She looks forward to seeing you at both offices, splitting her week between Ashburton and Rakaia.
Hi, I’m Vanessa and I’m the full-time based Rakaia person. I live in Leeston so not too far away; I have 2 late teen boy’s and several animals. When I’m not working, my family keeps me busy, mainly running around my oldest son and his rugby at Southbridge, at markets for my own small home business in crafts and doing countless loads of washing! I grew up around sailing, horse riding, sheep and cropping so cows are something I’m busy learning now.
Anita started at Dairy Vets in March 2021. She grew up in South Canterbury and has previously practiced as a large animal vet in the North Island and as a locum in Mid Canterbury. Anita and her husband have been contract milking on a dairy farm at Dorie since 2012. Outside of work she is kept busy with 3 children, the farm business, various community roles and a bit of hiking, biking and netball.
She has particular interests professionally in milk quality, calf rearing, trace elements and lameness. Accredited Healthy Hoof provider.
Originally from a relatively small (by Mid Canterbury standards!) dairy farm in Aberdeenshire, Will graduated from Glasgow University in 2019 and worked in mixed practice in Scotland for 18 months. He then decided to come to Ashburton to gain experience where’s there’s an abundance of cows and learn about New Zealand farming systems. Accredited Dairy NZ Body Condition Scorer.
Outside of work Will is a long suffering Scotland rugby fan and is keen to bag as many huts as he can out tramping on the South Island.
