Calves and lambs are very similar to rear. They share a common feature that their survival is largely related to the amount of colostrum they consume in the first 24 hours of life, as well as needing warmth, shelter and somewhere clean and dry to lie down.

Colostrum
If the calf you have is under 24 hours of age, it’s worth trying to source colostrum for them. This is easiest done by finding a freshly calved heifer or cow and milking colostrum from them. Ideally, this cow or heifer has calved within the previous 12-24hours. If you are struggling to get colostrum, an injection of oxytocin into the cow will help with let down from her. If you can’t get any colostrum, there are commercial supplements available. 2 to 3L for beef calves will suffice.

Feeding
Aim for calves to drink 10% of their body weight (~4L) in their first week of life and 20% of their body weight (~8L) after that. This can often be achieved by feeding every 12 hours. The easiest way to feed orphaned calves is on commercial calf milk replacers. This is a product where you get what you pay for. The higher-priced ones contain higher levels of fat and protein and are preferable.

Aim to also introduce a hard feed (calf pellet/muesli) in the first week of their life. The aim is to get calves eating 1.5 to 2kg of this per day, at which point they can be weaned. This is often around eight weeks of age and 70 to 80kg. At this point, they should have doubled their birth weight.

Other considerations
If they are male, they should be castrated as early in life as practical with the use of pain relief.

Vaccinations should also be done with '7-in-1' at six weeks of age and then boostered four-to-six weeks later.

Susceptible species

• Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) is a viral disease of cattle and water buffalo. It poses no risk to human health.

Transmission

• Mainly by mosquitoes, biting flies and potentially ticks
  
  
• These insects could be blown in by monsoonal winds in a time frame in which the virus remains viable

Epidemiology

• Morbidity usually varies between 10% to 20%
  
  
• Mortality rates in cattle are negligible in endemically-infected countries
  
  
• The period of time from exposure to development of clinical signs (incubation period) is usually 12 days but may range from 4 to 28 days

Clinical signs

• Sudden onset fever
  
  
• Reluctance to move
  
  
• Nasal and ocular discharges, hyper-salivation and swollen lymph nodes
  
  
• Skin nodules 2-5cm in diameter, particularity on the head, neck, limbs, udder, genitalia and perineum
  
  
• Secondary mastitis and pneumonia

Economic impact

• The impact is significant due to production losses and drop-in milk yield in cattle, plus restrictions in domestic animal movements and international trade.

• First reported in March 2022
  
  
• Likely occurred due to vectors blowing across from mainland Asia

If you are involved in the process of producing a new foal, you may need to know some basic norms to reassure yourself that everything is going well. This will arm you with the knowledge you need to decide whether you should seek advice from us.

Preparation
Pregnancy in mares is not an exact period and can vary from about 340 to 365 days. From the standpoint of routine husbandry procedures, leading up to foaling, mares should be vaccinated and wormed. Mares should also be a healthy weight. Mares that are overweight in late pregnancy are at a higher risk of foaling difficulties.

A few other routine planning questions are:

1. Where do you plan to keep your mare at foaling time?
2. If your mare has had a Caslicks procedure, have you arranged an appointment with us to have it opened?
3. Are there any final vaccinations that your mare needs in the final weeks of pregancy? 

Predicting the time of foaling is not easy to do. Knowing your mare and previous experience is helpful, but signs like the mare’s udder increasing in size (bagging up), a softening of the vulva and the ligaments around the pelvis and waxy substance on the ends of teats (waxing) can all be indicators that foaling is not far off.

There may also be indicators that things are not going to plan.

For example, if milk is running prior to foaling (this loss of the early milk called colostrum, which contains vital antibodies for your foal) then you should let us know. If there is any discharge from the vulva you should also seek advice from our team.

Something you may want to consider, to help you know when foaling has started, is a foaling alarm. There are many different types of alarms and the cost also varies greatly. However, you should never depend on alarms absolutely, as no matter the cost, they can never replace regular checks on your mare.

The foaling process
The contractions stage of foaling usually lasts a couple of hours or less. Your mare may be restless and appear uncomfortable. She may start sweating and look at or kick at her belly. The mare may lie down, stand up and roll during this phase. She may also raise her tail and urinate frequently. During this phase, the foal will turn from being on its back to being upright with forelegs and head moving towards the cervix and with further contractions, through the cervix into the birth canal.

The next phase is initiated when the outer placental membranes burst leading to significant fluid discharge. Within five minutes of this occurring, the hooves should be seen at the lips of the vulva. They are often still within the inner placental membrane. The mare usually lies down during this stage and her contractions push the foal through the birth canal. This stage should take no more than 15 to 30 minutes. If there has been no progress of the membranes rupturing within about 15 minutes, you should consult our team. Remember, we are available after hours.

The position of the foal is important. The normal position is as though the foal is diving through the birth canal, front legs first. If the hooves appear with the soles facing upwards, call us.

There is only one situation where you should intervene without a vet’s assistance. If the placenta, a red velvety organ appears first, this is an emergency and the foal could suffocate, so you need to assist the mare to deliver the foal as soon as you can. This is known as a 'red bag' delivery.

You should never try to pull the foal with anything other than your own strength- do not use a car or quad bike. If this emergency occurs, call us urgently and then concentrate your efforts on pulling when the mare is contracting. Pulling the foal too forcefully can result in damage to the mare or the foal.

Finally, the placenta should be passed four-to-six hours after the foal. There are significant risks if the placenta is not passed. Please contact us to assist with addressing these risks.

Rain, beautiful rain, leads to wet pastures that lead to wet feet that lead to sore feet that lead to lameness - and lameness is a pain for all sheep farmers in the southern climes!

Lameness is one of the most significant and widespread welfare problems in the southern states and is a major source of economic loss to the sheep industry.

An animal suffering from lameness is less able to graze and compete for feed. The consequences of lameness include:

• Loss of weight and condition
• Lower lambing percentages
• Lower birth weight and hence reduced lamb viability
• Reduced growth rate in lambs
• Reduced milk production
• Lower fertility in rams
• Reduced wool growth
• Costs associated with the treatment and control of the disease

Already this year we have seen a number of cases where the effects of lameness have been quite severe and this is before warmth adds a complicating and accelerating factor to the equation! We have seen lame rams with poor testicular tone and therefore lower fertility leading to poor conception rates, and poor doing ewes that have been limping away from their poor doing lambs.

Lame sheep need to be examined to exclude footrot. Luckily most are foot abscesses, either toe or heel and the ubiquitous scald. Foot abscess can be confused with footrot, as they both develop from scald (or interdigital dermatitis), which can cause severe lameness - and they love it when conditions are wet.

If you are in any doubt as to the reason for your lame sheep, call our clinic and we can work out a diagnosis and treatment plan.

After all the apprehension of foaling, if that process goes well, it is important to put your feet up and allow the mare and foal time together undisturbed to bond, for the foal to feed and particularly to drink the colostrum, which is so important to the foal’s early immunity. The umbilical cord will normally break by itself. You can disinfect it with a product recommended by our team.

Post-foaling milestones
Foals should be able to lie with their chests up (on their sternum) in the first few minutes after birth and will normally stand within an hour or so. Foals will usually drink their first milk within two hours of birth. This often stimulates the foal to pass its meconium, which is firm tarry faeces that has been accumulating in the foal’s gut during pregnancy.

The first week
There are important signs to observe in the first week of a foal’s life. It is a great idea to get our team to examine the mare and foal in the first few days after the foal is born.

Respiratory health is something to be carefully evaluated. The foal’s respiration should be unlaboured and quiet at about 60-70 breaths per minute.
A check of the foal’s stools is also important to confirm the stools are firm and that the foal is not dehydrated.

Check that the foal is not suffering any gut discomfort or straining due to colic or another gut blockage disturbance.

Ensure that the umbilical cord is drying and not dripping urine. The eyes should have pink membranes and not be red, irritated or discharging. The foal should walk or run easily and not show any lameness or swollen joints.

If you have any questions or concerns about your foal or mare, please get in contact with our friendly team.

• Immediate livestock standstill. No livestock movements Australia-wide for 72 hours
  
  
• AUSVETPLAN provides the guidelines
  
  
• The first preference will be to “stamp out” with slaughter and disposal. This strategy will likely result in the shortest time to regain freedom of disease and access to international markets
  
  
• Vaccination will be a backup strategy, as it will likely delay our freedom of disease status and return to international trade
  
  
• Vaccine use will be highly regulated for both Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), and will be distributed by the government
  
  
• Zoning Australia will be a key tool in regaining market access for both diseases

What is the government doing?

• The Australian government and livestock industry are reviewing preparedness for any incursion of LSD or FMD
  
  
• The Australian government are supporting the Indonesian government’s response
  
  
• Lots of good and reliable information is available on Animal Health Australia website (you can also sign up for a newsletter)
  
  
• State and federal departments of agriculture websites also have information
  
  
• There is a lot going on in the major peak industry councils, government divisions and we’re staying across these issues as well

What can producers do now?

• Clinical signs of both FMD and LSD could be easily confused with a range of diseases present in Australia
  
  
• Please feel free to pick up the phone and talk to us, we can help!
  
  
• You should review your farm biosecurity plan – see www.farmbiosecurity.com.au or speak with us about a biosecurity plan. Local Land Services are currently rolling out biosecurity plan workshops to assist with preparation
  
  
• Add Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline to your phone: 1800 675 888

• Foot and Mouth disease is a highly contagious, viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals
  
  
• There are no safety implications for the human food chain from an outbreak of FMD
  
  
• It remains infective in the environment (and products of affected livestock) for several weeks and possibly longer in the presence of organic matter. The virus is inactivated by high and low pH environments and the right disinfectants

Susceptible species

• All cloven-hoofed (animals with two toes) are susceptible – pigs, sheep, cattle, deer, goats- even some zoo animals. Of these, the most severe disease happens in pigs and cattle.

Epidemiology

• The time from when an animal is first exposed to the time it develops signs is 2 to 14 days (incubation period)
  
  
• The disease has low mortality rates (<5%) in adult cattle, though it can be higher in younger animals
  
  
• This is one of the most infectious diseases in the world, with most animals getting sick (morbidity rates of up to 100%)
  
  
• Recovered cases can continue to shed the virus, despite apparently recovering

Transmission

• Aerosol transmission, normally via direct contact with oral/nasal secretions
  
  
• Swill feeding – Swill feeding is illegal in Australia. This means that it is illegal to feed food waste containing meat or other mammalian by-products to pigs
  
  
• Fomites – i.e. your clothing, car and boots
  
  
• Artificial insemination

Clinical signs

• Vesicles, blisters and ulcers in the mouth, feet and teats
  
  
• Excessive salivation, lameness, pyrexia and reluctance to eat
  
  
• Abortions
  
  
• Reduced milk production
  
  
• Sudden death in young stock

Economic impact

• Losses associated with eradication, production losses and restrictions on international trade have been estimated at $80 billion! The probability of it entering Australia has also jumped up in recent months given the disease has now spread to Bali.
• Consider isolating off farm if you or your farm staff are returning from overseas. Ensure proper decontamination to minimise disease risks on your farm. 

Horses are quite clever and generally avoid eating plants that make them feel unwell. However, when we have frosts and other challenging weather conditions, plants can become more toxic and horses can become more hungry. Greedy little ponies are particularly prone to eating foods that they should not. If grass is growing low to the ground, we can offer hay as roughage to meet the nutritional needs of the horses, without the temptation of foods that they should not be eating.

Rugging horses through the colder months can help to reduce the total calories that they need to maintain their body condition score. Remember, when it is very cold, horses will shiver and use energy, which needs to be replaced by eating more. 

Have a look at the link below for a detailed handbook of plants poisonous to horses.