He believes the new strain of the bloodborne parasite Theileria orientalis, which is carried by ticks and causes anaemia, has cost him more than $80,000 to support his stock through the infection.
John, a former Waikato Federated Farmers Dairy chairman, his wife Jill and their son Nathan milk 980 cows between their two farms at Te Pahu. A percentage of their cows, calves and yearlings were all infected with Theileria this year costing them in lost production, extra supplement, stock losses and health care.
Their first cow was diagnosed with Theileria in September but there were several health issues during the year which in hindsight were probably due to the parasite, Bluett said.
Progression
Their yearlings only gained 16kg between February and May, partly due to the drought. But they were fed well and were leaving pasture behind them.
“Looking back they probably didn’t have the energy to graze,” he said.
The herd had a higher number of slips this year and 15% of the September calves were born dead, which Bluett puts down to the cows not having energy to push the calves out quickly.
The spring calves also didn’t thrive as normal and they made the decision to feed milk for an extra week, split the calves into smaller mobs and feed an extra four tonnes of meal.
“They were going backwards,” Jill said.
“I had to tube feed some of the older calves.”
The extra milk out of the vat and the extra calf meal cost about $10,000. John recommends farmers keep a close eye on their young stock for Theileria this year, especially if they are in a region with a history of ticks.
“You’ve either had it and you don’t know it or you are going to get it,” he said.
“The thing I’m saying to farmers is if they have any stock out grazing they need to check them at least monthly.”
Farmers who draw a map of their stock movements find it easy to see how Theileria can be picked up.
The Bluetts grazed stock at their Te Pahu runoff but also grazed some at Cambridge, Raglan, Whitianga and Morrisville last year.
The day before their first animal was diagnosed John had visited an infected herd and saw the symptoms firsthand, particularly a pale vulva rather than a healthy pink vulva. The next day he checked one of his cows which was off-colour.
“She had calved the week before and she could hardly walk,” he said.
“She had no milk and had hardly eaten. I had thought it was a mix of milk fever and acidosis.”
He checked her vulva and saw it was white instead of pink, then got the vet out to take a blood sample which came back positive for Theileria. John then checked 100 random cows and 25% of their vulvas looked creamy white.
“We made the decision at that point that no stress went on the herd.”
They ensured the cows were fully fed with high energy supplements and bought an extra 25 tonnes of molasses. They also made the policy that any cow which had an assisted calving would be given engemycin as well as treating all animals for ticks.
“Getting the animals through with the least amount of stress is the key to getting through it,” he said.
“But it will cost you. What saved us was the cows were in good condition and we had plenty of feed cover.”
They were able to minimise the damage because they treated their cows with tender loving care.
The herd is doing record production, up 3% on last year, but Theileria has probably cost them $35,000 in production. The infection has also hampered their three week submission rates, which are down at 78%.
Looking ahead they will have to treat all animals coming on to and leaving the farm until the herd builds up immunity.
“As an industry we can manage the issue,” John said.
“We have to ride out the storm. In the 35 years we’ve been farming there has always been something thrown at us. It’s a learning curve.”
The cows which were infected with Theileria have recovered well and now there are no signs they’ve been sick.
“Once they’ve built up their immunity they’re alright.”
For more information on Theileria including symptoms and treatment options visit DairyNZ or Franklin Vets
