Hunterville Vet Club

Hunterville Vet Club Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Hunterville Vet Club, 4 Bruce Street, Hunterville.

'Lucky' - 3 year old, neutered male, well behavedFree to a good homePhone John 020 458 4397 if you are interested
20/08/2025

'Lucky' - 3 year old, neutered male, well behaved
Free to a good home
Phone John 020 458 4397 if you are interested

18/08/2025

Cattle grazing wanted, for any stock class, by one of our clients.

Phone Martin on 0274 840 541 for more information.

06/08/2025

Milk Fever in Ewes

This is a condition most often seen in older, multiple bearing ewes in the last month before lambing. The condition is caused by a drop in blood calcium levels which causes the ewe to become weak and sit down. Interestingly, although cows also get milk fever from a drop in blood calcium, this tends to happen very close, to or immediately after, calving.

Sudden drops in blood calcium in ewes is most often associated with a sudden feed change from high quality forages which contain a lot of calcium (new grass, chicory, plantain, brassicas and clover) to poorer quality pastures. It can also be caused by prolonged yarding or bad weather that reduces dietary intake of calcium.
Ewes down with milk fever, if treated without prolonged delays, will respond very positively to treatment, especially if given IV. With the current value of sheep, calling a vet can often be justified where more than one ewe is down.

Subclinical milk fever where ewes are affected but not down can be associated with ewe weakness, prolonged lambing and increased ewe and lamb deaths. This is the condition that using Hideject injection on older, multiple bearing ewes can help to prevent. The take home message is, don’t make sudden changes from high quality feeds to lesser quality ones without considering the risks posed by milk fever.

06/08/2025

Take a look at our August 2025 Newsletter.

If there is anything we can help you with please give us a call on 063228057

Does anyone recognise this cat? Distinctive white tip on the tail, very friendly. Found Mt Curl Rd. Please contact the c...
06/08/2025

Does anyone recognise this cat? Distinctive white tip on the tail, very friendly. Found Mt Curl Rd. Please contact the clinic if you recognise it.

2013 Ford Ranger, with dog / stock crate and mat$24,000 onoPhone Kim Lockwood on 063284711 if you are interested.
05/08/2025

2013 Ford Ranger, with dog / stock crate and mat
$24,000 ono
Phone Kim Lockwood on 063284711 if you are interested.

23/07/2025

Milk Fever Alert!!

Last week we dealt with 3 outbreaks of milk fever in older, multiple bearing ewes that were still some way off lambing. Given the grass growth we have seen recently (although not this week!) milk fever may continue to be a significant risk to ewes.

In 2 of these cases, ewes were changed from one feed type to another – chicory to grass. In the other case, ewes were on swedes and ran into problems when the leaf had been grazed off. A reminder to be very cautious around changing multiple bearing ewes close to lambing, onto poorer quality feeds than they have previously been grazing. Taking ewes off chicory, plantain or clover dominant pastures can be especially challenging.

Please call us if you are at all concerned with possible milk fever issues.

Purebred Jack Russell puppies for sale. Litter of 6 pups, 2 girls one boy left as per photos. Ready for new homes from ...
16/07/2025

Purebred Jack Russell puppies for sale.
Litter of 6 pups, 2 girls one boy left as per photos.
Ready for new homes from August 9th.
Please call Sam for further info 021 445 202.

EDIT: They are all gone, thanks.We have a pile of pallets out the back if anyone would like them. Help yourselves 🙂
10/07/2025

EDIT: They are all gone, thanks.

We have a pile of pallets out the back if anyone would like them. Help yourselves 🙂

09/07/2025

We have a client in search of a heading pup and a running heading dog. Must be dogs. Will be going to a forever home. Please contact Anna on 027 327 6029.

07/07/2025

July 2025 Newsletter

18/06/2025

Fertiliser Toxicity

It is good to see planes flying and trucks working again as farm budgets allow fertiliser to be put back on the agenda.

Just a reminder to consider the possible risk that fertiliser application poses to stock grazing pastures when super phosphate fertiliser has been applied. In the small print you will find that Ravensdown and Balance state that stock should not graze dressed pastures until 21 days after application or after significant rainfall—25mls. In practice this does not always happen!!

Over the years we have had cases of toxicity. When problems have occurred it has generally been when fine, dusty superphosphate has been applied at high rates (200kg / ha +), grass covers have been over 1400kgs / ha and the grass has been damp either from a good dew / frost at the time of application. In this situation the fert has stuck to the leaf rather than falling through the sward to the dirt allowing ewes in particular to ingest damaging amounts of fertiliser.

The answer is not to apply high rates of fert or good covers if the grass is damp and stock are likely to graze the area before good rainfall occurs. Often this just means waiting until the afternoon for things to dry out.

A point to note is that it is not the superphosphate as such that causes the poisoning. Fluorine is a contaminant found in phosphate rock which causes kidney damage if ingested and is the cause of the toxicity.

Address

4 Bruce Street
Hunterville
4730

Telephone

06 3228057

Website

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