Winter is almost here, which means cold, wet, muddy conditions, and an increased risk of lameness in your livestock. We’ve put together a list of hazard management strategies you can employ to minimise the impact of coldweather lameness.

Slow stockmanship strategy
Now, we know that nobody wants to spend any more time in the cold, wind and rain than absolutely necessary, but there are several benefits to slowing down the pace when it comes to moving cattle around a property, primarily, cows will place their feet carefully if given time to walk at their own pace. Consider:

• Put slow walkers and young cows in a separate herd to improve cow flow
• Give cows additional time to choose a path through narrow or damaged areas, like areas that have been washed with recent floods
• Be careful on concrete and other hard surfaces - soft hooves are easily damaged by twisting, sliding sideways and turning on abrasive surfaces.
• Don’t use honking horns or barking dogs
• Avoid overcrowding in the yard
• Let the cows move into the shed at their own pace

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

• 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
• Incorporate 0.3-1% cement in the capping repair material can help stabilise the surface
• Compact repaired surfaces
• Fence off damaged areas of the track that are beyond temporary repair
• Top tracks with sawdust, wood chips or finely crushed rock/limestone
• Use at least 300mm of soft topping materials such as sawdust or wood chips, and use sleepers to keep the material contained

If you notice cattle leaving stones on the concrete holding yards, consider topping the last 25m of the track with sawdust or wood chips. Alternatively, placing a log or 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.

If any of your animals require veterinary attention for cold-weather-induced lameness, don’t hesitate to get in contact with a member of our friendly veterinary team.

Winter marks a change in weather presenting producers with a few challenges related to nutrition, weather, and animal health. With this in mind, thorough planning will go a long way in helping producers get the best out of the breeding season. Here are four areas to address in preparation for your autumn and winter breeding programs:

1. Nutrition: In Australia, the winter months can be a challenging time to provide adequate nutrition to breeding cattle, especially in areas where forage availability is limited. You may need to introduce supplementary feed of high-energy feed, hay or silage to ensure your cattle receive sufficient nutrition. It is important to regularly monitor the body condition score of your cattle to ensure they are not losing too much weight during the winter.

2. Climate and exposure: Cattle in Australia are adapted to a range of climatic conditions, but cold temperatures can still harmfully impact their reproductive health. During the winter months, make sure your cattle have access to dry areas and shelter belts.

3. Health monitoring: Winter can be a challenging time for cattle health in Australia, with respiratory infections among other diseases being more prevalent. Many diseases will impact the reproductive efficiency of cattle and therefore regularly monitoring cattle and providing appropriate vaccinations can help prevent the spread of disease, ensuring the long-term reproductive success of your breeding stock.

4. Specific vaccinations: At a minimum, breeders should be vaccinated. Speak with us about the specifics of the vaccination program, or refer to the Immune Ready Guidelines which have recently been developed.

For more advice on breeding programs, nutrition and health management, contact our knowledgeable veterinary team.

If, as an observant horse carer, you detect that a horse’s posture or gait is uneven or different from usual, we recommend consulting your vet to investigate for a significant underlying issue. You may not need to do this immediately as it’s possible that the issue may be temporary and clear up by itself in a few days. But if the lameness persists, a vet can help to diagnose the type and severity of the problem.

Visual assessment

Initially, your vet is likely to examine the horse at rest. Ideally, your horse should be standing squarely on a flat surface. It may be easier to bring your horse to the clinic for this. The vet will compare each of your horse’s legs to the one on the horse’s opposite side. They will also examine each hoof for size, the amount of wear, shape, cracks in the wall of the hoof and any contraction in the bulb of the heel. Joints and tendons are visually inspected for swelling and alignment. Muscles of the legs, neck and back are examined for swelling and symmetry. Any abnormal findings will be noted, examined further, and tested with palpation and exercise assessments.

Exercise assessment

The main objectives of this assessment are to identify which leg (or less commonly, legs) is the source of the problem and to determine the severity of the lameness. These assessments should be carried out on a firm surface while your horse’s gate is observed at a walk, trot and occasionally in a track run or on a treadmill. The vet may also observe your horse trotting in a circle using a lunge line and/or in a straight line, preferably in both directions, as well as running your horse up and down an incline. These drills put controlled pressure on the horses’ joints, allowing your vet to identify problems that are not easily observed when a horse moves in a straight line on flat surfaces.

Severity scoring

In most cases, the vet will grade the severity of the lameness. The usual severity scores include:

• Grade 0: Lameness is not detected
  
• Grade 1: Lameness is difficult to detect and not apparent in all situations
  
• Grade 2: Lameness is difficult to observe but consistently apparent under particular circumstances
  
• Grade 3: Lameness is consistently observable at a trot under all circumstances
  
• Grade 4: Obvious lameness; marked nodding, altered gait
  
• Grade 5: Minimal weight bearing in motion and/or at rest

• Regularly rotating pastures to reduce exposure to parasites
• Implementing a targeted parasite control program
• Monitoring worm burdens regularly through WECs and larval culture
• Using quarantine and biosecurity protocols to prevent the introduction of new parasites
• Providing clean water and adequate nutrition

Autumn is here, and it’s time to talk about type II ostertagia. It's a nasty parasite that can harm your cattle herd and cost them their productivity if you don't treat it.

What is type II ostertagia?

Type II ostertagia likes to hang out in the abomasum (the fourth stomach) of young cattle between six months and two years old. Animals contract the parasite by grazing on grass contaminated with parasite eggs, which is common in areas with lots of rain and mild temperatures. Once the parasite gets into the cow's abomasum, it can cause a lot of damage.

How does it spread through a herd?

In Australia, type II ostertagiasis normally occurs in late summer through to autumn, when large numbers of arrested level four larvae emerge from the mucosa. Both the emergence of juvenile larvae, and the subsequent activity of adult parasites once inside the animal’s rumen contribute to the cause of parasitic infection.

What signs should you watch out for?

Initially, the signs of type II ostertagia are subtle. You may notice your cows losing weight or not eating as much, or maybe they're not producing as much milk as usual. As the infection gets worse, they might develop diarrhea, dehydration, or a dull coat. Without timely treatment, the parasite can cause stomach ulcers and potentially death.

What are your diagnosis and treatment options?

If suspected, the disease can be diagnosed with a blood test, and treated with an effective drench.

Be on the lookout at this time of year, if your cattle aren’t performing in the face of good feed, parasites must be on your list of considerations.

For more advice on protecting your herd from parasitic infection speak to a member of our experienced veterinary team.

While environmental conditions and management practices will always have the most impact on health outcomes, managing alpacas and their vitamin needs prophyllactically has long-term benefits. Worst case scenario if alpacas do not have sufficient vitamins can see catastrophic injuries that are both difficult and expensive to manage. The good news is, there are over the counter vitamins available that make this possible. 

Many of the water-soluble vitamins (vitamins B, C) are provided by the bacterial microbe populations in the fore-stomachs of camelids, so most healthy alpacas do not require additional supplementation if they are otherwise healthy and having access to good pasture options.

In general, vitamins A and E are available from green grass, and even from green weeds that come up after brief summer rain. In general, alpacas only need supplementation of Vitamin A and E if pasture is completely dry for more than 8-10 weeks.

On the other hand, Vitamin D supplementation is required in alpacas. Inject all alpacas less than 3 years of age, and all females due to give birth in winter/early spring (to fortify colostrum) with 6000IU vitamin D/kg body weight under the skin (SC) or into the muscle (IM). Administer in late autumn ( the right time is now!), mid-winter and early spring in higher latitudes like Orange.

To determine the dose, read the label on the bottle to determine vitamin D concentration to determine what volume to administer.

E.g. 1: A 20 kg cria needs 120,000 iu vitamin D. If there is 75,000 iu per mL vitamin D in your selected source of vitamin D, then the cria would need approximately 1.6 mL of solution per dose.

E.g. 2: An adult alpaca weighing 70 kg needs 420,000 iu vitamin D. If there is 500,000 iu per mL vitamin D in your selected source of vitamin D, then the adult alpaca would need approximately 0.84 mL of solution injected.

Do the maths every time, remembering that too much vitamin D can be toxic.