Livestock

Manawatu vet Lisa Whitfield outlines the ways to check whether your calves are sick.

Kaipara vet Rory Dean worked through the theory and the practical systems to prevent milk fever with sharemikers Joe and Danielle Kehely resulting in a staggeringly low milkfever incidence of three cases (0.57%) after calving 550 cows compared to last season’s case load of 6.1%.

NZ livestock systems are reliant on internationally produced feed. This represents a risk especially to the profitability and sustainability of the dairy industry. By Raewyn Densley, Jeremy Hunt, Lauren McEldowney, Phil Journeaux, Julian Reti Kaukau.

On-Farm Research at the Poukawa Research Farm did much pioneering research on calf rearing from the mid 1990s, rearing about 8000 calves across a wide range of trials. Paul Muir offers his thoughts on what is still relevant to current calf rearers

Failure of calves to get sufficient colostrum and acquire early immunity is a world-wide problem, Paul Muir writes.

New Zealand breeding companies are concerned the proposed model for a single breeding worth (BW) that includes genomic evaluation risks disincentivising investment in research and development. Anne Lee reports.

The spring calving kit is one thing which should be in good order and ready to go before the first calf hits the ground, Manawatu vet Lisa Whitfield writes.

Paul Muir and staff from On-Farm Research at the Poukawa Research Farm in Hawke’s Bay have been researching calf rearing since 1996. They have put together an update of calf rearing costs for the 2023 season.

Well-fed cows like to lie for much of the day. By Justin Kitto.

Lameness may be one of the more prevalent limits to production on a dairy farm. By Karen Trebilcock.