The move to bring bovine TB testing in-house at Ospri officially started this month, as a team of 37 skilled and experienced technicians begin work with the disease eradication agency.

Success in calf rearing is often measured by minimising health issues and achieving target weaning weights.

As dairy farmers know all too well, the calving season brings with it significant nutritional demands on the herd.

We've come a long way in dairy farming over the past couple of decades. Genetics are better, sheds are more modern and we have more data at our fingertips than ever before.

At the heart of the SmaXtec system is the ability to monitor animal health, including early disease detection, alongside reproduction issues such as heat identification, optimal insemination windows, calving notifications-on average 15 hours before the eventalongside abortion detection and fertility issues.

Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.

Six industry organisations, including DairyNZ and the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) have signed an agreement with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to prepare the country for a potential foot and mouth outbreak.

It's common to look at reproductive challenges through the lens of the mating season. If cows aren’t cycling, if submission rates are low, or if too many come up empty, most farmers will dig into their mating programme to figure out what went wrong.

As I write this article, we have just had our first frost in the Waikato, a change in weather signalling that winter is upon us.

Leaky teats and poor feeder fit are now a thing of the past for calf rearers - thanks to the Thriver range of calf teats from Skellerup.