Friday, March 29, 2024

Massive problem met with vigilance

Avatar photo
Waikato farmer Scott Montgomerie spent a lot of time and money making sure his cows were in excellent condition for this season after a theileria problem in 2013 which he estimates cost him $360,000.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

“That’s from late July to the beginning of November taking in cow deaths, vet time and staff time, with no account of the cows’ reduced reproduction,” he said.
“It was a massive problem so now we’re much more vigilant.”
He estimates that death rates when theilera first hits a herd will average from 2% to 5% although there will be instances where this rate is much lower or higher. The problem on his 770ha effective Orini farm started with a larger than usual number of down cows, but using extra magnesium and calcium to make sure there were adequate levels in their feed wasn’t working.
“It was frustrating to see the cows going down and we were blaming it on not dusting the break (with magnesium oxide),” he said.
“We’d had some cases in the autumn but the vets were the first to diagnose theileria.”

The FANI card is a useful tool to identify infected cows.

At first blood samples were taken to the vet clinic to be centrifuged but when the extent of the problem become obvious this was done onfarm. And as the cases grew over the first month anaemic cows were identified by using the Field Anaemia Nearest Indicator (FANI) card showing pale vulvas. It’s one of the most recognisable signs cows have the disease and while they may seem perfectly healthy three days down the track they could be really suffering, Montgomerie said. The card, against which all the herd are now checked, was very useful because it was quick and easy for staff to use.
He lost 60 cows which definitely had theileria, while more may have had other health problems which were made worse when they were under pressure, such as at calving.
About 300 of his 2250 cows were milked once-a-day for periods from two to eight weeks.
“We reduced their energy demands and gave them extra feed such as palm kernel in the paddock or through the in-dairy feeding system,” he said.
Some blood transfusions were done, using five litres of blood from healthy cows, which he recommended for young, healthy cows because the only cost was vet
time.
“Some cows we treated with antibiotics because we thought they could have liver and kidney problems because their immunity was down,” he said.
“That helped if they had other issues.”
CIDRs were used early in mating if it was thought there would be issues with some of the herd getting in-calf. Heifers coming back from grazing were all given a tick treatment six weeks before calving, as well as bulls which Montgomerie buys from Hawke’s Bay. The odd cow which had taken a hammering from theileria was dried off or culled.
“We were trying to get extra energy into them and needed to work out if we would do blood transfusions,” he said.
“But when you get to 10 or 12-year-old cows you’ve got to draw the line.”
Straight after calving the colostrum mob was nursed more carefully than usual and fed molasses.
“We were also checking them at night because we were aware it could happen that quickly,” he said.
“We have had the odd one where it might not be an outright theileria case but combined with something else such as a bladder infection.”
He believes the herd is back to normal now with production last season of 775,000kg milksolids from 550 autumn-calving and 1700 spring-calving cows.

• FANI cards and more information on theileria are available at www.dairynz.co.nz

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading