OUR APPROACH

West Coast Vets offer a range of services for our Dairy farms mainly focused on animal health programmes aimed at preventing disease occurrence. We are continuously aiming to ensure we provide the right services for our farmers.

We know farming is a tough job – here are the services we provide to cater to your animal needs:

  • Lameness control with Dairy NZ’s Healthy Hoof programme. Working to improve lameness in dairy cows through improved management of cows and people with a trained healthy hoof consultant.

  • Mastitis control and milk quality management including grade busting and whole herd paddling with trained vets and technicians.

  • Dairy reproductive services including pregnancy testing and routine non-cycler and synchronisation services.

  • Trained “In Calf” advisors in all  clinics. Aiming for a continuous improvement process by challenging farmers to take a systematic approach towards a sustainable improvement in reproductive performance.

  • Trace element monitoring at critical and regular periods during the year i.e. Pre-calving, pre-mating and pre-drying off.

  • Gastrointestinal parasite and liver fluke monitoring through milk tests to ensure treatments are targeted and accurate.

  • Dry off treatments are available in conjunction with a full consultation with a large animal veterinarian to determine the best product for your farm and the right cows to treat it with.

  • Restricted veterinary medicine consultations are carried out yearly and are a detailed look at your entire farm system to spot areas for improvement and reduce reliance on medicine. These RVM’s also act as a prescription to ensure that medicine is available quickly when you need it.

  • Body condition scoring by one of our trained technicians or veterinarians to ensure that your herd is on target for maximum production.

  • Drench programmes for all ages and types of stock from our experienced team to provide maximum growth.

  • BVD is a growing problem on the coast and through West Coast Vets you can sign up for the LIC BVD monitoring programme which gives you multiple milk tests at critical times of the year.

  • Sign up for yearly Johne’s disease monitoring through West Coast Vets to combat the growing problem, our  tests are carried out at the same time as your herd milk test.

  • Disbudding at a very competitive rate and includes sedation, local anaesthetic and your choice of long acting pain relief to help them get back on their feet as quickly as possible after what can be a stressful experience.

Technical Services to Help Management on the Farm

West Coast Vets run a calf disbudding programme in the spring which each season disbuds calves painlessly and with minimal stress for operator and calf. Regular pre-booked visits can be arranged and the work will be done by our vets and techs so that farm staff are free for other tasks. Regular fertility visits in the spring and teatsealing in the winter are two more areas where our teams of vets and techs can help with on farm tasks.

We are always here to help – so don’t hesitate to get in touch, anytime, anywhere!

THE BENEFITS

Why West Coast Vets is a great choice

We're locals

We’ve been located throughout the West Coast area for decades. It’s where we’re from and where we raise our families.

Wide network

We’re plugged into the Veterinary world and our team can call on expertise from all over the world, then deliver it locally.

Handy clinics

We’re close to you for consults, supplements, supplies...whatever you need. Pop on in or organise a delivery.

FURTHER READING

Latest news

Lameness: Part 3

For the final instalment of the lameness trilogy, we are going to look into the last couple of conditions commonly seen and a procedure to remove incurable toes.Read more

Joining the WCV herd: Molly

Hi, My name is Molly and I’ll be hanging out on-farm with the vets as their new tech. Before I took this job, I was working as a barista in one of the local cafes and as an AB assistant andRead more

Prevent down cows at the works

With cull cow season in full swing, now is a good time for a refresher on some essentials your animals need, before being loaded onto a truck, to avoid down cows on arrival at the works.  The localRead more

Salmonella vaccination

Salmonella is a zoonotic disease, which means it not only affects cattle, but can be passed to humans too. Immuno-compromised or pregnant people are the most at risk of infection. There are four mainRead more

Bulk milk somatic cell count and cow health

The bulk milk somatic cell count (BMSCC) refers to the concentration of white blood cells produced by the entire herd into the vat.  Cell counts above 400,000 cells/ml are regarded as unfit forRead more

The end of an era!

As some of you will be aware, Harold has been reducing his days at West Coast Vets for the last few years and has now decided to step back and retire from his role in the retail team.  He is stillRead more

A new leptospirosis vaccine

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease, caused by a family of bacteria, that can infect multiple species, including people.  Three groups of people who are at high risk of contracting lepto are: MeatRead more

Can cows have a Christmas hangover too?

The time after Christmas is for recovery, as our stomachs recover from too much food and our livers from being too merry! Every year, this seems to become harder and take longer. Do cows have theseRead more

Foot rot and white line disease

Continuing on with our lameness theme started in the last newsletter, we will look at two of the most commonly seen causes of lameness on the West Coast:Read more

Preventing Polio (B1 deficiency)

Polio, short for bovine polioencephalomalacia, is a disease of the brain most commonly caused by thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. It is something we see sporadically each year (we have already seenRead more

Minerals: you can't improve what you don't measure!

Our advice is to check the mineral status of your herd before mating, to which the common response is often "but I haven’t changed anything", or, "our results have always been ok".  Unfortunately,Read more

Managing internal parasites in calves

Internal parasites (worms) can have a large effect on calf growth rates if not managed correctly. Drenching your calves is important to help reduce worm burdens, but it is just one tool that weRead more