Transport of Cull Cows

We all have to do our bit to ensure that cull cows are transported in such a way as to maintain animal welfare, so they arrive at the other end fit and healthy.

• Only select animals that are fit for transport.

• A BCS of at least 3.0, ideally more.

• No signs of ill health.

• No visible signs of wounds, bleeding disease or deformity.

• Can bear weight evenly on all 4 legs.

• Horns: Not ingrown or recently removed. They must be inside the ears and not sharp enough to damage each other in the truck.

  • If you are unsure have them assessed to see if they can qualify for a transport certificate by a vet. When we write a transport certificate we can only certify them for 7 days and it must be to the nearest works. Make sure you have this all organised prior to booking us in to see them.

  • Download the Fit for Transport app from MPI for more information.

Massey University has done research looking at what caused cows to go down when they went to works. They found:

1. 80% of down cows had milk fever (low blood calcium levels).

2. Most cows that went down were still lactating.

3. The further cows were transported the greater the risk of going down.

What can you do to reduce the risk of cows going down?

• Where possible, fully dry cows off before transporting to slaughter. Transporting in full milk is high risk. Milk any lactating cows as close to transport as possible.

• Cull cows should be transported for the shortest time possible and ideally processed at the nearest works. Discuss options with your stock agent. The risk of injury or going down increases with travel time and distance.

• Supplement with extra calcium and magnesium

  • Lime flour 250- 300g per cow

  • Magnesium 60- 70 gm Mag Chloride or Mag Sulphate in water and 30gm Mg Oxide mixed with hay or straw.

• Take cows off green feed (lush pasture) for a minimum of 4 hours and a maximum of 6 hours if they are still lactating, (12 hours if dry) prior to pick-up time.

• Provide ad-lib roughage and water until loading with the calcium and magnesium added.

• A grazed-out paddock is recommended to give cows the opportunity to rest before the journey. Don’t stand them on concrete.

• Cows may be held in yards overnight at the processing plant, so the total time off feed is longer than just the journey time.

2025-26 Mating Commentary

The district six-week-in-calf rates for this season has jumped to be the best we have ever recorded. The average was at 72% and the median 73% (last season this was 69% and 70% respectively). In total we had 77 farms (as at end of February) achieving a 75% or greater 6 week in-calf rate which is a massive increase on the 42 farms that achieved this last season.

Three-week submission rate remains a massive driver of six week in-calf rate. This has increased by 2% this season to finish at 85%. About 31% of farms are achieving the 3-week SR target of >90%. This is a tremendous lift on just 15% of farms achieving this target last year. Proactive steps are required throughout the season to makes this happen!

Growing conditions were cool this season, which meant most farms remained on a knife edge throughout the early/mid parts of the season (surplus pasture cut for silage/baleage from the dairy platforms is well down). The positive spin-off was that pasture quality remained excellent. A buoyant industry meant that farmers were prepared to fill deficits with in-shed feeds at higher rates and longer periods. Feed blends containing DDG have now become the normal and certainly help balance the cow diet. A feature of farms with a large increase in reproductive performance is that they are also well up on production. Well fed cows get back in-calf – both submission and conception will improve.

Now is a great time to get in contact with your Prime Vet to review this season’s results and identify work-on’s and an appropriate plan to get there.

Mastitis Multiplex PCR – A big advance in milk quality management

Many of you will be aware of the highly convenient, Staph aureus PCR test that LIC has had an available for use on herd test samples for the last 10 years.

This season the test has got better. As well as a much improved sensitivity (improved chance of detecting Staph aureus if the cow is infected with it), the test will also simultaneously detect Strep uberis, Strep dysgalactia and will look for the presence of the BLAZ gene.

Cows detected with Staph aureus can be managed separately over the season to minimise spread to other cows. At the end of the season, these cows may be considered for culling (particularly if they possess the BLAZ gene, have been chronically high SCC or are greater than 6-7 years old.

The finding of either Strep species at a high incidence provides some certainty of the main cause of high somatic cell count cows and gives a greater confidence in the retention of younger infected cows when treated with DCAT as cure rates should be high.

The BLAZ gene is found in bacteria that are resistant to beta lactam antibiotics - e.g. penicillin. Cow milk found to contain this gene have bacteria on board which are less likely to cure with antibiotics and pose a risk to the development of herd level antibiotic resistance. Cows with Staph aureus and the BLAZ gene should definitely not be retained.

Testing of herd test samples must be booked with LIC in advance via our vet clinic. Talk to your Prime Vet. Once the herd test results are through, your Prime Vet will screen the HSSC cows and select those for testing. Typically these will be cows that are chronically high or with a SCC over 250-400,000 at the most recent herd test.

Cost of testing is $19 per cow (excluding GST). This is very good value. A minimum of 25 cows must be sampled.

Precision Dairy – From Monitoring to Insights

The 4th International Precision Dairy Farming Conference was held in Christchurch this December, bringing together almost 400 researchers, farmers and tech developers from 22 countries. The clear message? We’re moving beyond simply monitoring cows toward systems that combine multiple data sources, use AI, and deliver practical advice. The concept of ‘digital twins’ – virtual farm models that simulate decisions before you make them – featured prominently. Here are some technologies making waves right now.

Automated Calf Feeders

Early calf nutrition has lifetime production consequences – but intensive milk feeding is labour-heavy. Automated feeders let you push growth rates without the workload, and the data they generate is proving just as valuable as the milk they deliver:

• Individual calf ID with customised milk allocation

• Automated step-down weaning programs

• Health insights from drinking speed, visit frequency and intake patterns

Calf Health Monitoring

What if you could treat sick calves before they looked sick? Wearable tags combined with feeder data are now detecting illness before clinical signs appear:

• Scours flagged 24 hours early through changes in drinking speed and intake

• Detecting early rumination to help with weaning decisions (when are the calves eating grass??)

• SenseHub calf tags for rumination and health monitoring are available in NZ now.

FLOW – The AI Backing Gate

Inconsistent backing gate use is a hidden cost on most farms – stressed cows, longer milkings, and more lameness. With changing staff and growing herds, the problem is getting worse. Christchurch company Livestock Visibility Solutions has built an AI system that standardises gate movement using cameras – in a trial use showed:

• 18.5% reduction in milking times across 9 farms

• 15-20% reduction in lameness

• $47,500 average annual savings (labour, lameness, power)

Camera-Based Monitoring

A single BCS tells you where a cow is – daily scoring tells you where she’s heading. Cameras that automatically score BCS have been around for a few years now, but are markedly improving (see the NZ company Herd-i as an example). Teamed with the ability to detect locomotion changes, we can now follow daily trends in BCS and lameness:

• Track BCS changes over time – not just snapshots, allowing early action on nutrition

• Act on individual cow trends (rather than just mob level data) – preferentially feed cows, matched to in-shed feeding technology

• Treat lame cows earlier - improving cure rates and reducing milk / repro losses

Satellite & Smartphone

Pasture Tools

We all know regular pasture measurement pays – but compliance with actually doing this is relatively low across the industry. Satellite technology’s are improving at pace (no longer plagued by inconsistent readings!), but can be improved markedly by the addition of on-ground readings i.e with manual reading adjustments or photos. AIMER and Halter (both NZ companies) have grass measurement + AI assisted feed wedge analysis tools on the market now to offer not just cover prediction, but also insights on feed planning.

What’s Next?

The common thread is integration. The future isn’t more gadgets – it’s smarter systems turning data into actionable advice.

Phantom Cow Scanning to Reduce Empty Rate

Phantom cows at scanning time are often the most frustrating. These are the cows that get inseminated don’t return to heat but fail to get pregnant. They often come as a surprise when you assume they will be in calf.

Traditionally we scanned phantom cows around week 7 of mating, soon after the bulls went out as knowing who was mated by the bulls required a lot of diligence and hard work. However, with the increase in cow wearables and farms doing all AB mating our chance to intervene can be at any point in the mating period.

Mating lengths have also gotten shorter meaning treated phantom cows only get one insemination before the end of the mating period.

With this in mind, 2 years ago Ryan Luckman and I did a study on maximising the returns on when to scan and treat phantom cows. We used data from 30 herds in Waimate who did all AB matings without any phantom scanning, in total about 25,000 cows. We then used this to estimate when the best time to phantom scan was. The conclusion was that if you want to maximise the return on investment then scanning right at the end of mating and mating treated cows on the last day maximised returns and makes the biggest change in herd empty rate. On average this would reduce herd empty rate by 1.1% and give a massive 4.2 return on investment.

For this to work well good AB records are vital and using the shortest gestation semen available in these cows is recommended. To find out more call your prime vet. If you did all AB mating last season and want to know the likely return on phantom scanning in your herd we can estimate that for you.