Urban folks want a prettier picture
New Zealand's dairy industry must catch up with world-best standards in respect of the environment and animal welfare, says Animal Health Direct founder Richard Kettle
Hawke's Bay animal health supplier Animal Health Direct is further promoting its mineral tonic for calves launched in 2017.
The product, Epic, got a good reception from farmers last year, says AHD managing director Richard Kettle.
“We put it on the market towards the end of the 2017 calf season and from the uniformly positive we’re expecting good uptake this year.”
Epic is a palatable, ready-to-use tonic and feed supplement to help support health and growth.
Used daily it will help offset stress caused by trucking, sickness, injury or nutritional scours, Kettle says.
It can also be fed at a higher dose in warm water when normal feeding is disrupted by scours.
A maintenance dose of 50ml/calf/day will provide copper, cobalt, iodine, zinc, aloe vera, molasses, molasweet and dextrose; it also has fluid retention properties via sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, mon-pot phosphate and sodium citrate.
“This is a triple-action tonic and feed supplement, providing energy, hydration and minerals,” Kettle says. “We’re pleased with the formula and with what rearers have experienced when they used it.”
The company is offering free AHD calf covers to buyers.
“You can never have too many of these covers... to protect calves from bad weather. We know rearers like them because they’re always in demand.”
As well as Epic, AHD offers other products for calf rearing. Virukill pen disinfectant is effective against the Mycoplasma bovis pathogen.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
World Veterinary Day falls on Saturday 27 April.
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