Black Mastitis 1st February I went with my grand daughter to shift my cows and Blayre wouldn't get up and was laying right beside the trough. I could see she was very stressed and not at all well and when we got her to stand, 'O No black mastitis!'. Her front right teat was very swollen and we could see she was very, very miserable. I had seen black mastitis on our son's dairy farm and knew the outlook did not hold much promise.I shot into the vets to get some penicillin and pain killers and Pete said 'Rosalie, a lot of prayer will be needed because you know the usual outcome.' We went back with a halter and a long rope, lassoed her horns and tied her up to a post. This was easy as she had no energy. We administered three injections over six days and kept her separate from the rest of the herd to prevent it from spreading. By the sixth day she was able to run up the hill but was puffed out. The teat was now purple and she walked stiff legged. Although she had started to eat grass again. She got very thin and needs to build up her condition. Luckily, I had weaned her calf one month before this all happened. Unfortunately the quarter has dropped off and I will not be keeping her. When she got it in January the ground was very dry so I was very surprised she contracted it. Pete the vet was surprised she survived.I hope we never see black mastitis again.
New Zealand Highland Cattle Society Newsletter – August 2016 Theme - Animal Health & Welfare President's Message
1. On-line registration now $25.00 (less than 1 yr old), and $45.00 over 1 yr old. Hard copies are an additional $3.00 and $5.00 respectively.
It is a pleasure to welcome Aaron Wilson-Jones from Timaru, and Rosalie Hutton from Milton to Council. Both Aaron and Rosalie have settled in really well, and are contributing very actively to Council activities. We are also delighted to welcome our new secretary, Glenda Stimpson, and also Doug Maclean in his new role of Treasurer, not to mention Cynthia Christie who took over the Registrar’s role from Jenny MacDonald. We all appreciate Jenny’s contribution over a number of years – Thank you, Jenny, and also a big thankyou to Doug MacLean for his very substantial input into Council activities over eight years. Three years ago, Council introduced an “Annual Journal of Record” in place of our regular “Highland News” magazine. The Journal has been very well received, but many members have commented that the old publication is missed, so Council decided that a compromise would be to publish the Journal every second year, and to introduce regular newsletters, so here is our first “new look” newsletter. We are grateful to Prattley Industries of Timaru for contributing part of the cost of the newsletter in the form of sponsorship. No other advertisers have been sought. You will read of my endorsement of Prattley’s headbale in this newsletter. As you will read in a separate note, Council has reduced the cost level of some fees, however careful management of our finances, and the restructuring of the management team, have meant that the Society is in good financial heart.
2. Transfers are now $20.00.
(Continued Overleaf)
Rosalie Hutton
Revised Fee Structure Over a period of six months prior to the last AGM, Council thoroughly reviewed the Society’s fee structure, analysing time inputs, updated on-line transactions and other factors. This was a very comprehensive review, culminating in a new fee structure being recommended and tabled at the May 2016 AGM for introduction from 1-Jun-2016. The new fees are published on the NZHCS website, the changes, which took effect from 1-Jun-2016, being:
Other fees remain unchanged.
Registrar's Desk 2017 Calendar Photos Submit your entry into the best calendar photo competition to the secretary by September 30th
Society Management Team President – Doug Sheldon – Auckland Ph: 09 420 4065 Email: thepresident@highlandcattle.org.nz Vice President – Judy Smyth – Bay of Plenty Ph: 07 543 0925 Email: rosemoor@xtra.co.nz Councillor – Martin McLeod – Auckland Ph: 09 292 4120 Email: martin.mcleod@portacom.co.nz Councillor – Stuart McGrigor – Wairarapa Ph: 06 306 8488 Email: stuart.mcgrigor@highlandcattle.org.nz Councillor – Aaron Wilson-Jones – South Canterbury Ph: 03 686 1328 Email: karmec1@xtra.co.nz Councillor – Rosalie Hutton – Otago Ph: 03 417 4031 Email: rosalie.hutton@highlandcattle.org.nz
Secretary – Glenda Stimpson 212c Glenbrook Beach Rd RD 1, Waiuku Ph: 09 235 3311
Email: secretary@highlandcattle.org.nz
Registrar – Cynthia Christie 145 Somerton Rd RD 2, Ashburton 7772 Ph: 03 302 2656
Email: registrar@highlandcattle.org.nz
Treasurer & Website Administrator - Doug & Sharon Maclean 2072 Makino Rd RD 9, Stanway Feilding 4779 Ph: 06 328 8778
Registrations and transfers are ticking with the 2016 calendar year about on par with the 2015 year in terms of numbers. We have however gained a number of new memberships and folds this year which is a real turnaround from 2015. Herd returns are still slow to come in which is proving somewhat frustrating for me as I would like to have our herd book as accurate as possible for the benefit of members. A big thank you to those who completed and returned them on time. For those that haven’t yet done so your local councillor will be calling you soon with a friendly reminder. They will have your return on hand so you can complete it over the phone. Bull Assessment requests to be with the registrar by 1 September along with payment of the assessment fee. I will accept requests after the due date but it will be up to the assessor as to when they are scheduled. Bulls must be 1 year old at assessment. Year Letter for 2016/17 is D Tagging – All registered animals must be identified with 2 tags one of which is the NAIT tag. The NAIT tag is in the animal’s right ear with the female tag to the front or inside– this will have your NAIT number and animal number printed on it e.g. 1234567 16-1. You can supply those numbers or the 16 digit EID code as the primary tag number on the NZHCS registration form. The secondary tag is now what is often called a “management tag”. It can be ordered on the same form as the NAIT tag and is called a matching set by tag suppliers. It is on this tag that you put your Herd Code, Year letter and unique number e.g. EQD1. You can also add text such as your fold name and other info to this tag. Call me if you need help to get the tagging correct for our records. Cynthia Christie
Email: treasurer@highlandcattle.org.nz websupport@highlandcattle.org.nz
President's Message (ctd): Council meetings are now mainly conducted by teleconference on a monthly basis, which is greatly reducing costs incurred by face to face meetings, while increasing Council’s ability to facilitate changes and improvements in the way NZHCS business is conducted. Our business is now neatly divided into two sections – Member and Breed Management – with goals and priorities set in both areas. Changes and improvements in both areas will be gradual, but are already taking place. Meeting minutes will be published on the website, with further information available from any Councillor. On a personal note, we have a number of calves on the ground with their mothers milking well in spite minimal grass growth at the moment. In the north, this winter has been incredibly wet and cold, however, it is pleasing that there is a noticeable lift in the interest of good quality well-bred Highland cattle. Cynthia and Doug M have reported a number of new members to NZHCS, and Cynthia is reporting pleasing numbers of cattle registrations and transfers. The increase in registrations and transfers may be in part due to the reduced fee structure, but the transfers are clear indication that purchasing and selling are firm. It is only a couple of months before the next Show season begins in some regions. If there are new members, or even existing long established members who are interested in showing cattle but are unsure and would like to learn the nuts and bolts of showing, I’d encourage you to contact people in your area who regularly show and they may be happy to include you in their “team” as an easy entry into showing. 2017 calendar; please let us have your photos as we will be putting this together soon for publication in November Finally, please let us have your feedback on this Newsletter, or any other “Highland” matter. Regards to you all.
can be incorporated in the yards, or installed separately. The advertisement for Prattley yards features a Highland cow in the headbale. That photo is taken on our property with one of our cows neatly secured much against her will. The race needs to be 700-750mm wide, and the preferred height ranging 1500mm and 1650mm (1500 seems quite adequate). The length of a race should be 2000mm for the first animal and 1500mm for each additional animal. Remember that cattle don’t like to make sharp turns unless they know they are coming out into a wide space, so try to have cattle move into the race from a straight-on position. A number of companies specialize in manufacturing componentry for stockyards, and we suggest you check these out and perhaps visit other Highland Cattle breeders and discuss yards with them before you start building. There is a variety of theories on how to accommodate the horns in the race, with some having one side built higher than the other and some having “staggered” posts. Others have about three solid boards around horn-height so the horns can’t become stuck, however the cattle like to be able to see around them. We have found that given a bit of time, Highlanders will figure out for themselves how to position their horns to get through the race, but it is really helpful to get young cattle used to going through a race before their horns grow long. A walkway on the outside of the race allows safer handling for drenching and vaccinating – easy for the handyman to knock up! We chose the Prattley headbale because it seemed to us to offer better access for horned cattle and we thought that opening in a vee would help to dissuade animals from taking a dive through – this has proved to be the case; in handling our cattle for a myriad of reasons, our headbale has proved to be invaluable. Before building yards, have a good look around, check with farmers who have yards and ask how if they would make any changes if they were building a new set. Pay particular attention to where you site them as well. Large yards are not needed for a small number of cattle, and thought should be given to incorporating small paddocks, races, holding pens, etc., instead of building larger, more expensive railed yards. You will never regret investing in good cattle handling facilities. Doug Sheldon
Doug Sheldon
Cattle Handling Facilities: Safety on the farm has become increasingly important over the past few years, with injuries, some serious, being from time to time recorded while working with cattle of all breeds. For this reason alone it is worthwhile looking at your cattle handling facilities. Apart from safety issues, cattle yards make many routine tasks so much easier: tagging, drenching, vetting, weaning – the list goes on. If you don’t have a set of yards it is recommended that you consider adding them to your property. It will add value to your “patch” as well as cutting down cattle handling time, and give peace of mind when it comes to close encounters with your cattle, no matter what breed. There are many designs of cattle yards but for those who struggle with what to do and where to start, we make the following comments. We (and, as appropriate, our vet) use our yards to halter train and for firstleading exercises, pregnancy testing, weighing, drenching, vaccinating, treating occasional mastitis, de-horning, castrating, nose-ringing of bulls, ear tagging, TB testing, and helping a new calf to drink/mothering on. It sounds as though we have quite a lot of problems with our cattle: we don’t, but it only takes one or two animals with “special needs” to cause a headache without proper facilities. Further, our own vet advises that he will not now send any of his staff to treat animals on any client’s property unless he knows that proper and safe facilities are available as he is required to provide a safe work-place for his staff. While there are many configurations for yards, the practical minimum requirement for a small number of animals is one pen and a short race long enough to accommodate one full grown animal, and fitted with a headbale. A headbale is not absolutely necessary, but it makes a huge difference on the odd occasion when an animal needs to be secured. A cattle loading race is usually desirable as well; this
Fostering Calves: Many breeders from time to time unfortunately lose a new-born calf. We lost one of the first Highland calves born on our property and having always been in the habit of (where possible) foster mothering lambs or calves, we immediately found a local dairy farmer who had a young calf which we bought and attempted to mother on. We were having difficulty getting the cow to take the calf and a week or so later, discussed this with a very experienced dairy farmer/Highland breeder, who told us that we could never mother a calf onto a Highland cow – it was impossible. We resigned ourselves to feeding the calf on the cow in the race. A few weeks later we discovered that the calf was feeding in the paddock – the cow had taken the calf. The following year this cow lost another calf. We purchased a replacement and she took it within 24 hours. Subsequently we have lost several calves and each time we have been able to obtain a calf and mother on. While this sounds like a large number of dead calves, it is only a very small percentage of loss with around 50 calves expected to be born this year. I thought it may be useful to talk about the process that we have used because it seems a shame to waste all that milk and to have to carry that cow for another 12 months with no production from her. A common way of helping to mother on is to skin the back half of the dead calf and tie the skin to the living calf for a few days until the cow accepts it. This can be a problematic process, messy, sometimes working, sometimes not. The process we use is we keep the calf in a shed and feed it on the mother two or three times a day with the cow in the race with its head in the head bale. We don’t let the cow sniff the calf for a couple of days, so immediately the feed is completed, the calf goes back in the shed and we put the cow back on grass. On the third day we will put the calf in a pen and let the cow free outside the pen. At this point we usually find the cow is looking for the calf and will accept it when put together. There is no set rule about the acceptance procedure; it is necessary to be perceptive and act according to your instincts. Patience and time are essential ingredients; when pairing up the cow and calf like this, it is important to ensure the cow doesn’t kick the calf and sometimes it may be necessary to carry this process on for another day or so. We have proven that Highland cows will accept foster calves providing a good system is used in the mothering on process. The cow in the photos is a first calver and we think she had a difficult calving. The calf was full term and she was mothering it but within four days I had her completely adopt a foster calf which will turn into several hundred dollars in a very short time. We certainly believe it is worthwhile considering mothering on a calf, however you do need to be prepared to put in a bit of time doing this. If anybody wants to discuss this, please call us. Doug Sheldon
President's Message (ctd): Council meetings are now mainly conducted by teleconference on a monthly basis, which is greatly reducing costs incurred by face to face meetings, while increasing Council’s ability to facilitate changes and improvements in the way NZHCS business is conducted. Our business is now neatly divided into two sections – Member and Breed Management – with goals and priorities set in both areas. Changes and improvements in both areas will be gradual, but are already taking place. Meeting minutes will be published on the website, with further information available from any Councillor. On a personal note, we have a number of calves on the ground with their mothers milking well in spite minimal grass growth at the moment. In the north, this winter has been incredibly wet and cold, however, it is pleasing that there is a noticeable lift in the interest of good quality well-bred Highland cattle. Cynthia and Doug M have reported a number of new members to NZHCS, and Cynthia is reporting pleasing numbers of cattle registrations and transfers. The increase in registrations and transfers may be in part due to the reduced fee structure, but the transfers are clear indication that purchasing and selling are firm. It is only a couple of months before the next Show season begins in some regions. If there are new members, or even existing long established members who are interested in showing cattle but are unsure and would like to learn the nuts and bolts of showing, I’d encourage you to contact people in your area who regularly show and they may be happy to include you in their “team” as an easy entry into showing. 2017 calendar; please let us have your photos as we will be putting this together soon for publication in November Finally, please let us have your feedback on this Newsletter, or any other “Highland” matter. Regards to you all.
can be incorporated in the yards, or installed separately. The advertisement for Prattley yards features a Highland cow in the headbale. That photo is taken on our property with one of our cows neatly secured much against her will. The race needs to be 700-750mm wide, and the preferred height ranging 1500mm and 1650mm (1500 seems quite adequate). The length of a race should be 2000mm for the first animal and 1500mm for each additional animal. Remember that cattle don’t like to make sharp turns unless they know they are coming out into a wide space, so try to have cattle move into the race from a straight-on position. A number of companies specialize in manufacturing componentry for stockyards, and we suggest you check these out and perhaps visit other Highland Cattle breeders and discuss yards with them before you start building. There is a variety of theories on how to accommodate the horns in the race, with some having one side built higher than the other and some having “staggered” posts. Others have about three solid boards around horn-height so the horns can’t become stuck, however the cattle like to be able to see around them. We have found that given a bit of time, Highlanders will figure out for themselves how to position their horns to get through the race, but it is really helpful to get young cattle used to going through a race before their horns grow long. A walkway on the outside of the race allows safer handling for drenching and vaccinating – easy for the handyman to knock up! We chose the Prattley headbale because it seemed to us to offer better access for horned cattle and we thought that opening in a vee would help to dissuade animals from taking a dive through – this has proved to be the case; in handling our cattle for a myriad of reasons, our headbale has proved to be invaluable. Before building yards, have a good look around, check with farmers who have yards and ask how if they would make any changes if they were building a new set. Pay particular attention to where you site them as well. Large yards are not needed for a small number of cattle, and thought should be given to incorporating small paddocks, races, holding pens, etc., instead of building larger, more expensive railed yards. You will never regret investing in good cattle handling facilities. Doug Sheldon
Doug Sheldon
Cattle Handling Facilities: Safety on the farm has become increasingly important over the past few years, with injuries, some serious, being from time to time recorded while working with cattle of all breeds. For this reason alone it is worthwhile looking at your cattle handling facilities. Apart from safety issues, cattle yards make many routine tasks so much easier: tagging, drenching, vetting, weaning – the list goes on. If you don’t have a set of yards it is recommended that you consider adding them to your property. It will add value to your “patch” as well as cutting down cattle handling time, and give peace of mind when it comes to close encounters with your cattle, no matter what breed. There are many designs of cattle yards but for those who struggle with what to do and where to start, we make the following comments. We (and, as appropriate, our vet) use our yards to halter train and for firstleading exercises, pregnancy testing, weighing, drenching, vaccinating, treating occasional mastitis, de-horning, castrating, nose-ringing of bulls, ear tagging, TB testing, and helping a new calf to drink/mothering on. It sounds as though we have quite a lot of problems with our cattle: we don’t, but it only takes one or two animals with “special needs” to cause a headache without proper facilities. Further, our own vet advises that he will not now send any of his staff to treat animals on any client’s property unless he knows that proper and safe facilities are available as he is required to provide a safe work-place for his staff. While there are many configurations for yards, the practical minimum requirement for a small number of animals is one pen and a short race long enough to accommodate one full grown animal, and fitted with a headbale. A headbale is not absolutely necessary, but it makes a huge difference on the odd occasion when an animal needs to be secured. A cattle loading race is usually desirable as well; this
Fostering Calves: Many breeders from time to time unfortunately lose a new-born calf. We lost one of the first Highland calves born on our property and having always been in the habit of (where possible) foster mothering lambs or calves, we immediately found a local dairy farmer who had a young calf which we bought and attempted to mother on. We were having difficulty getting the cow to take the calf and a week or so later, discussed this with a very experienced dairy farmer/Highland breeder, who told us that we could never mother a calf onto a Highland cow – it was impossible. We resigned ourselves to feeding the calf on the cow in the race. A few weeks later we discovered that the calf was feeding in the paddock – the cow had taken the calf. The following year this cow lost another calf. We purchased a replacement and she took it within 24 hours. Subsequently we have lost several calves and each time we have been able to obtain a calf and mother on. While this sounds like a large number of dead calves, it is only a very small percentage of loss with around 50 calves expected to be born this year. I thought it may be useful to talk about the process that we have used because it seems a shame to waste all that milk and to have to carry that cow for another 12 months with no production from her. A common way of helping to mother on is to skin the back half of the dead calf and tie the skin to the living calf for a few days until the cow accepts it. This can be a problematic process, messy, sometimes working, sometimes not. The process we use is we keep the calf in a shed and feed it on the mother two or three times a day with the cow in the race with its head in the head bale. We don’t let the cow sniff the calf for a couple of days, so immediately the feed is completed, the calf goes back in the shed and we put the cow back on grass. On the third day we will put the calf in a pen and let the cow free outside the pen. At this point we usually find the cow is looking for the calf and will accept it when put together. There is no set rule about the acceptance procedure; it is necessary to be perceptive and act according to your instincts. Patience and time are essential ingredients; when pairing up the cow and calf like this, it is important to ensure the cow doesn’t kick the calf and sometimes it may be necessary to carry this process on for another day or so. We have proven that Highland cows will accept foster calves providing a good system is used in the mothering on process. The cow in the photos is a first calver and we think she had a difficult calving. The calf was full term and she was mothering it but within four days I had her completely adopt a foster calf which will turn into several hundred dollars in a very short time. We certainly believe it is worthwhile considering mothering on a calf, however you do need to be prepared to put in a bit of time doing this. If anybody wants to discuss this, please call us. Doug Sheldon
Black Mastitis 1st February I went with my grand daughter to shift my cows and Blayre wouldn't get up and was laying right beside the trough. I could see she was very stressed and not at all well and when we got her to stand, 'O No black mastitis!'. Her front right teat was very swollen and we could see she was very, very miserable. I had seen black mastitis on our son's dairy farm and knew the outlook did not hold much promise.I shot into the vets to get some penicillin and pain killers and Pete said 'Rosalie, a lot of prayer will be needed because you know the usual outcome.' We went back with a halter and a long rope, lassoed her horns and tied her up to a post. This was easy as she had no energy. We administered three injections over six days and kept her separate from the rest of the herd to prevent it from spreading. By the sixth day she was able to run up the hill but was puffed out. The teat was now purple and she walked stiff legged. Although she had started to eat grass again. She got very thin and needs to build up her condition. Luckily, I had weaned her calf one month before this all happened. Unfortunately the quarter has dropped off and I will not be keeping her. When she got it in January the ground was very dry so I was very surprised she contracted it. Pete the vet was surprised she survived.I hope we never see black mastitis again.
New Zealand Highland Cattle Society Newsletter – August 2016 Theme - Animal Health & Welfare President's Message
1. On-line registration now $25.00 (less than 1 yr old), and $45.00 over 1 yr old. Hard copies are an additional $3.00 and $5.00 respectively.
It is a pleasure to welcome Aaron Wilson-Jones from Timaru, and Rosalie Hutton from Milton to Council. Both Aaron and Rosalie have settled in really well, and are contributing very actively to Council activities. We are also delighted to welcome our new secretary, Glenda Stimpson, and also Doug Maclean in his new role of Treasurer, not to mention Cynthia Christie who took over the Registrar’s role from Jenny MacDonald. We all appreciate Jenny’s contribution over a number of years – Thank you, Jenny, and also a big thankyou to Doug MacLean for his very substantial input into Council activities over eight years. Three years ago, Council introduced an “Annual Journal of Record” in place of our regular “Highland News” magazine. The Journal has been very well received, but many members have commented that the old publication is missed, so Council decided that a compromise would be to publish the Journal every second year, and to introduce regular newsletters, so here is our first “new look” newsletter. We are grateful to Prattley Industries of Timaru for contributing part of the cost of the newsletter in the form of sponsorship. No other advertisers have been sought. You will read of my endorsement of Prattley’s headbale in this newsletter. As you will read in a separate note, Council has reduced the cost level of some fees, however careful management of our finances, and the restructuring of the management team, have meant that the Society is in good financial heart.
2. Transfers are now $20.00.
(Continued Overleaf)
Rosalie Hutton
Revised Fee Structure Over a period of six months prior to the last AGM, Council thoroughly reviewed the Society’s fee structure, analysing time inputs, updated on-line transactions and other factors. This was a very comprehensive review, culminating in a new fee structure being recommended and tabled at the May 2016 AGM for introduction from 1-Jun-2016. The new fees are published on the NZHCS website, the changes, which took effect from 1-Jun-2016, being:
Other fees remain unchanged.
Registrar's Desk 2017 Calendar Photos Submit your entry into the best calendar photo competition to the secretary by September 30th
Society Management Team President – Doug Sheldon – Auckland Ph: 09 420 4065 Email: thepresident@highlandcattle.org.nz Vice President – Judy Smyth – Bay of Plenty Ph: 07 543 0925 Email: rosemoor@xtra.co.nz Councillor – Martin McLeod – Auckland Ph: 09 292 4120 Email: martin.mcleod@portacom.co.nz Councillor – Stuart McGrigor – Wairarapa Ph: 06 306 8488 Email: stuart.mcgrigor@highlandcattle.org.nz Councillor – Aaron Wilson-Jones – South Canterbury Ph: 03 686 1328 Email: karmec1@xtra.co.nz Councillor – Rosalie Hutton – Otago Ph: 03 417 4031 Email: rosalie.hutton@highlandcattle.org.nz
Secretary – Glenda Stimpson 212c Glenbrook Beach Rd RD 1, Waiuku Ph: 09 235 3311
Email: secretary@highlandcattle.org.nz
Registrar – Cynthia Christie 145 Somerton Rd RD 2, Ashburton 7772 Ph: 03 302 2656
Email: registrar@highlandcattle.org.nz
Treasurer & Website Administrator - Doug & Sharon Maclean 2072 Makino Rd RD 9, Stanway Feilding 4779 Ph: 06 328 8778
Registrations and transfers are ticking with the 2016 calendar year about on par with the 2015 year in terms of numbers. We have however gained a number of new memberships and folds this year which is a real turnaround from 2015. Herd returns are still slow to come in which is proving somewhat frustrating for me as I would like to have our herd book as accurate as possible for the benefit of members. A big thank you to those who completed and returned them on time. For those that haven’t yet done so your local councillor will be calling you soon with a friendly reminder. They will have your return on hand so you can complete it over the phone. Bull Assessment requests to be with the registrar by 1 September along with payment of the assessment fee. I will accept requests after the due date but it will be up to the assessor as to when they are scheduled. Bulls must be 1 year old at assessment. Year Letter for 2016/17 is D Tagging – All registered animals must be identified with 2 tags one of which is the NAIT tag. The NAIT tag is in the animal’s right ear with the female tag to the front or inside– this will have your NAIT number and animal number printed on it e.g. 1234567 16-1. You can supply those numbers or the 16 digit EID code as the primary tag number on the NZHCS registration form. The secondary tag is now what is often called a “management tag”. It can be ordered on the same form as the NAIT tag and is called a matching set by tag suppliers. It is on this tag that you put your Herd Code, Year letter and unique number e.g. EQD1. You can also add text such as your fold name and other info to this tag. Call me if you need help to get the tagging correct for our records. Cynthia Christie
Email: treasurer@highlandcattle.org.nz websupport@highlandcattle.org.nz