Calving cows in an extremely wet spring proves to be difficult for many. While there is no silver bullet to stop every case of mastitis, here are a few things that will help you along the way.

• Group cows based on expected calving dates and manage the population density of calving areas.
• Choose well-drained areas, and keep them free from cows for a few weeks prior to spring’s arrival to allow some grass cover and reduce the bacterial load on the paddock.

As our weather warms, allergic responses in horses become more prevalent. Allergies or hypersensitivities can be one of the more frustrating conditions to manage in the long term. Because of this, getting the right diagnosis is very important to manage these frustrating conditions. Only with the right diagnosis, can an effective treatment regime be devised. As many allergy treatments can have some side effects, the aim must be to manage these conditions for the safest and most effective outcomes for your horse.

Insect Bite Hypersensitivity (IBH) also known as ‘sweet itch’ or ‘Queensland itch’ is considered the most common skin allergy in horses. It is a global condition that we mostly see due to bites from sand flies or biting midges, called Culicoides. Less commonly, this condition can be due to black, stable or buffalo flies. Allergy to allergens in these insect bites is often seasonal but can be year-round in sub-tropical and tropical climates. Some quarter-horse breeds seem to be genetically more susceptible to this condition, although any age or breed can be affected. The most common age when the condition first starts is between three-to-four years.

Signs
Intense itching is the most obvious sign of this condition. This can result in horses scratching or rubbing themselves so severely that they can cause injuries. Before this severe outcome occurs, small blisters or papules can be seen along the backline, ears, mane and tail, mostly where insects usually bite. If the condition remains untreated, more chronic signs like patchy hair loss, scaling, crusting and darkening of the skin and broken hairs on the mane and tail also occur.

Diagnosis
Diagnosing this condition is often based on physical signs, the season and the location of the irritation. Remember, however, that atopic dermatitis (discussed below) and possibly food allergies can look very similar. Correct diagnosis of insect bite allergy depends on a clear history, physical signs and an effective response to eliminating insect bites.

Treatment
To effectively control the impact of the insect bites, it is necessary to apply topical insecticide around dawn and in the early afternoon. The insecticide should be applied to the affected areas and this needs to be continued for about a month to assess if insect bites are indeed the cause of the allergic condition. Physical covering with a hood and rug may limit exposed skin, however you can’t cover all the skin surface, so insecticide will still be required. As a diagnostic tool as well as treatment, a successful response to this treatment can tell you that you are on the right track. If this strategy doesn’t produce a clear result, specialist dermatologists can do intradermal testing. This should be done with some caution, as false positive and negative results can occur with these tests.

Other strategies can include medications to reduce itching and pain, and managing how horses are exposed to insects by moving them inside at peak exposure times.

With the ongoing wet weather across Australia and La Nina providing a wet spring, the state of many laneways are far less than ideal. Here are a few thoughts on managing laneways until you can repair them, once they dry out.

Repairing track surfaces
It is often not possible to resurface tracks during wet conditions but some maintenance can reduce their deterioration.

• Try not to use laneways or move stock in extreme wet weather to minimise damage to laneways and feet alike
• When mud builds up on the edge of tracks, dig drainage channels to move the water off the track surface.
• Remove large or sharp stones and fill in potholes with fine screenings.
• Incorporating 0.3-1% cement in the capping repair material can help stabilise the surface.
• Compact repaired surfaces.
• Fence off damaged areas of track that are beyond temporary repair.
• Tracks can be topped with sawdust, wood chips or finely crushed rock/limestone. Use at least 300mm when using soft topping materials, such as sawdust or wood chips. Use sleepers to keep the material contained.
• Consider topping the last 25m of track with sawdust or wood chips if the cattle are carrying stones onto the concrete holding yards.
• Placing a log / 125mm high concrete nib wall (for the cows to step over) at the laneway-yard junction can reduce the number of stones brought onto the concrete.

Protecting hooves on concrete
Soft hooves are quickly worn down by rough concrete surfaces.

• Keep the concrete clean and remove stones from the concrete surface daily.
• Place protective mats, carpet or rubber tiles on turning areas.
• Minimise the time cows spend on concrete.

Atopic dermatitis is a much more complex disease than Insect Bite Hypersensitivity, which is described above. It is less well documented in horses and therefore the methods of treating atopic dermatitis in other species are mostly applied to horses. Some of the factors involved can be a genetic predisposition - the most common of which are several deficits in the normal skin barrier that allow allergens to enter the body, secondary bacterial or fungal infections, drying or irritating chemicals, allergens and stress factors that can be inherent behavioural issues or imposed stress, such as caused by performance.

Avoiding allergens
Although strategies for avoiding allergens should be explored, it can be a drawn-out exercise in frustration. It is critical that the offending allergens are identified as there are a wide variety of candidate allergens and, in some cases, a combination of allergens is responsible, making it more challenging to identify them all. In Australia, the most common allergens (similar to atopic dermatitis in other species) are pollens. Moulds, which are more common internationally, are less seen, possibly due to the shorter time that Australian horses spend in housing, where moulds are more common. Allergies to dust mites may also be a factor in this condition, but the role of these allergens is less clear.

Immunotherapy
If the offending allergens can be identified, it may be possible to develop a treatment regime involving injecting increasing amounts of the allergen(s). This desensitising therapy stimulates a change in the responses of various immune cells in the blood, aiming to produce a less severe response with little or no clinical symptoms.

Assuming the appropriate allergens can be detected, this therapy has a relatively good success rate, approaching 80%. This type of therapy is more suited to severe allergic reactions, unavoidable allergens or where the side effects of symptomatic therapy are severe or owners prefer not to use medications.

Symptomatic therapy
Although this is the most common form of therapy used for atopic dermatitis, it comes with some risks and its success in the horse is more variable than in other species. We may recommend treatments such as antihistamines, steroidal antiinflammatories, fatty acids, such as linseed or fish oil and antibacterial therapies if a secondary bacterial infection has occurred.

Several topical products can also prove useful, including some types of shampoos (avoid drying shampoos), moisturisers and topical corticosteroids, which avoid the side effects of oral or injectable ones. Individual horses will react differently to various combinations of these therapies. If injectable or oral corticosteroids are required, we will likely recommend that they are used as little as possible to minimise side effects.

Shearing of the rams is an iconic painting by Tom Roberts. He finished the artwork in 1890 and today it is regarded as an archetypal vision of Australian pastoral life. It depicts the tough days of hand shearing, prior to the modern instruments we use today. In days gone by, injuries were frequent and many good shearers ended their careers before they were due. One of the modern tools we use to make this job easier, faster and safer for all concerned is sedation.

The drug which is used, ‘ace’ (Acepromazine), is a reliable and relatively safe drug. It provides around two-to-four hours of sedation. There are a few things that you need to know however, before you ask for it.

• It is a schedule four drug - this means we need to satisfy legal requirements before we are legally allowed to sell it. In all states and territories, a bona fide veterinarian/client relationship must be in place to legitimise any supply of schedule four drugs. This means we must visit your property regularly. 
• This means that we must sell the sedation to the owners of the sheep, and not contractors.
• It is our duty to make sure that you are able to use the product appropriately. This often means visiting your farm initially and providing training for administration if needed.
• Sedation can interfere with sperm production, so try to time sedation and shearing at least two sperm cycles (i.e. at least 6weeks) before planned joining dates start
• It is also really important that you do not on-supply any sedation we dispense- you cannot sell or provide medications like this or others to other family members, neighbours, colleagues, et cetera.
• You may be asked to sign paperwork to signify that you understand the appropriate use of this medication

We want to keep you safe, and we also need to meet our regulatory requirements to keep our veterinary licenses intact- if we don't have licenses, you don't have medications or veterinary services. Please be understanding of this. It is not like buying over-the-counter products, such as drench.

Artificial insemination is a tool to introduce new genetics into your herd. Well-bred and well-grown heifers are a great starting point. Here are three key considerations for why you would start AI:

1. Calving ease: With a wide range of bulls to select from, you can select bulls that produce lighter calves, have shorter gestation lengths and grow out heifers that subsequently calve easier.
   
   
2. Simplify your joining: In three or four yardings, and minimal handling, you can have 100% of your heifers joined to the bull of your preference. When using fixed-time programs, there is also a good opportunity to synchronise the returns, so that another round of AI can be performed. Following this, either a 3rd round of re-synchrony is used, or bulls are run as a ‘mop up’.
   
   
3. Compact calvings: The compact calvings achieved with fixed-time AI programs have a two-fold effect. Firstly, this allows the heifers the most time to recover, and return to a rising plane of nutrition before the subsequent joining, which maximises their pregnancy rates. Secondly, this also produces homogenous lines of steers and heifers. The steers are heavier at weaning compared to their peers in natural mating and the replacement heifers have longer on the ground to grow out to meet their own critical mating weights.

If you’re ready to take the next step in your beef herd, talk to us about AI programs.