Metricheck
Dirty cows' can be easily detected with a breakthrough tool developed by Whangarei veterinarian Garth Riddle, which leads to effective treatment and restoration of fertility.
His Metricheck device allows all cows in the herd to be quickly checked for pus in the vagina, an indication of endometritis and risk of infertility. Once found, dirty cows are treated with Metricure, from Intervet, and quickly returned to AI or bull mating without getting left too far behind the herd in conceiving- if treated they conceive 13-28 days earlier than controls.
Garth invented and developed the Metricheck tool, which is now licensed to Simcrotech to manufacture and distribute the tool. Endometritis is a largely undetected problem of recently calved cows in early lactation, because very busy vets at that time of the farming year have not been able to check all cows, and only perhaps 1% show any visible signs of problems.
Ideally all cows are checked within a month after calving for indications that they may not be 'clean'. This is often because of an inability to clear uterine infections after calving, and the extent has usually gone unreported.
Garths Metricheck tool can be used by veterinarians, cow owners and herd managers to check large numbers of cows quickly and easily.
Less than five years after graduating from Massey University, Garth has gained valuable experience in large animal work, mainly dairying, first at Dargaville and then around Whangarei. Checking for endometritis with a speculum is slow, tedious work, and I knew there had to be a better way, he said.
Garth came up with the simple Metricheck tool, which scoops out the products of uterine infections, enabling them to be examined in the light. The Metricure treatment is already on the market from Intervet, and will now be much more widely used. This is a very practical tool for a chronic problem, he said.
Clients of Kamo Veterinary Clinic, where Garth works, have hailed the early identification and treatment of dirty cows as a way of earning more milk income, saving valuable genetics and contracting the calving period.
The New Zealand dairy industry has an increasing and worrying problem of empty cows, which are those which fail to conceive and either have to be re-mated, drop back into an autumn calving herd or be culled. The true level of uterine infections before mating is 8% of the herd, Garth has found. It is a major contributor to high empty cow rates in herds and premature culling of valuable genetics, not to mention the frustration of missed mating cycles. The reality for farmers is that empty cows are dead money and every extra day in milk is worth about $5 per cow. This makes early cycling, mating and calving very important financially.
Sharemilker Lindsay Steed, at Mata, Metrichecked all 350 cows after one milking in the first week of September, and pulled aside 28 for Garth to examine again. They were treated with Metricure and joined the AI programme later in September. Only five were subsequently confirmed as empty.
The Metricheck and Metricure treatment pulls the empty rate of those at-risk cows back to the herd rate, said Lindsay. The young cows in particular are a genetic waste if they are empty and not treated. Lindsay said Metricheck will help facilitate his decision not to induce late-calvers in future, but shortening up the calving period.
Sharemilker Mark Meyer, at Murua, 20km northwest of Whangarei, Metrichecked 270 of his 400 Friesian and crossbred cows on August 25, after calving started on July 20. He tagged 30 dirty cows, only one of which had visible signs of infection. That group contained some with retained afterbirths, assisted calvings or who had slipped the calf.
I wasnt happy with the empty rate in the previous year, and I had done all the pre-mating checks and identified any potential dirties. From the 30 treated with Metricure, two remained empty and were culled and six remained late calvers. Some of the rest were assisted with CIDRs and overall 60% got back in calf during the second cycle of AI Mark said.
As a sharemilker, I must get calves, and I must be milking to be earning money. An in-calf cow will sell at $600 to $700, while an empty cull cow would only fetch $250 from the works. Metrichecking and treatments have restored my choices in selection, as I can cull those at-risk cows, or something else in the herd. Once we know that a cow has an infection, we have to do something, financially and ethically, he said.
Herd manager Philip Schutt, with 480 cows in a split-calving herd at Ruatangata, has reduced the empty rate by half using Metricheck and believes all dairy farmers should be doing it as part of their pre-mating cycle.
Thanks to: Garth Riddle, Kamo Vet Clinic, cnr Kamo Rd and Carlton Cres, Kamo
His Metricheck device allows all cows in the herd to be quickly checked for pus in the vagina, an indication of endometritis and risk of infertility. Once found, dirty cows are treated with Metricure, from Intervet, and quickly returned to AI or bull mating without getting left too far behind the herd in conceiving- if treated they conceive 13-28 days earlier than controls.
Garth invented and developed the Metricheck tool, which is now licensed to Simcrotech to manufacture and distribute the tool. Endometritis is a largely undetected problem of recently calved cows in early lactation, because very busy vets at that time of the farming year have not been able to check all cows, and only perhaps 1% show any visible signs of problems.
Ideally all cows are checked within a month after calving for indications that they may not be 'clean'. This is often because of an inability to clear uterine infections after calving, and the extent has usually gone unreported.
Garths Metricheck tool can be used by veterinarians, cow owners and herd managers to check large numbers of cows quickly and easily.
Less than five years after graduating from Massey University, Garth has gained valuable experience in large animal work, mainly dairying, first at Dargaville and then around Whangarei. Checking for endometritis with a speculum is slow, tedious work, and I knew there had to be a better way, he said.
Garth came up with the simple Metricheck tool, which scoops out the products of uterine infections, enabling them to be examined in the light. The Metricure treatment is already on the market from Intervet, and will now be much more widely used. This is a very practical tool for a chronic problem, he said.
Clients of Kamo Veterinary Clinic, where Garth works, have hailed the early identification and treatment of dirty cows as a way of earning more milk income, saving valuable genetics and contracting the calving period.
The New Zealand dairy industry has an increasing and worrying problem of empty cows, which are those which fail to conceive and either have to be re-mated, drop back into an autumn calving herd or be culled. The true level of uterine infections before mating is 8% of the herd, Garth has found. It is a major contributor to high empty cow rates in herds and premature culling of valuable genetics, not to mention the frustration of missed mating cycles. The reality for farmers is that empty cows are dead money and every extra day in milk is worth about $5 per cow. This makes early cycling, mating and calving very important financially.
Sharemilker Lindsay Steed, at Mata, Metrichecked all 350 cows after one milking in the first week of September, and pulled aside 28 for Garth to examine again. They were treated with Metricure and joined the AI programme later in September. Only five were subsequently confirmed as empty.
The Metricheck and Metricure treatment pulls the empty rate of those at-risk cows back to the herd rate, said Lindsay. The young cows in particular are a genetic waste if they are empty and not treated. Lindsay said Metricheck will help facilitate his decision not to induce late-calvers in future, but shortening up the calving period.
Sharemilker Mark Meyer, at Murua, 20km northwest of Whangarei, Metrichecked 270 of his 400 Friesian and crossbred cows on August 25, after calving started on July 20. He tagged 30 dirty cows, only one of which had visible signs of infection. That group contained some with retained afterbirths, assisted calvings or who had slipped the calf.
I wasnt happy with the empty rate in the previous year, and I had done all the pre-mating checks and identified any potential dirties. From the 30 treated with Metricure, two remained empty and were culled and six remained late calvers. Some of the rest were assisted with CIDRs and overall 60% got back in calf during the second cycle of AI Mark said.
As a sharemilker, I must get calves, and I must be milking to be earning money. An in-calf cow will sell at $600 to $700, while an empty cull cow would only fetch $250 from the works. Metrichecking and treatments have restored my choices in selection, as I can cull those at-risk cows, or something else in the herd. Once we know that a cow has an infection, we have to do something, financially and ethically, he said.
Herd manager Philip Schutt, with 480 cows in a split-calving herd at Ruatangata, has reduced the empty rate by half using Metricheck and believes all dairy farmers should be doing it as part of their pre-mating cycle.
Thanks to: Garth Riddle, Kamo Vet Clinic, cnr Kamo Rd and Carlton Cres, Kamo