Alpaca are interesting animals, popular on small blocks in New Zealand. Originating in South America, these domesticated animals belong to the group ‘Camelids’ along with camels and llamas. They’re well known for their high-quality fibre, renowned for its softness and lustre, which is used to make luxury clothing items. They also make great pets with […]

An important part of calf rearing is reflecting on how the season has gone. It doesn’t take much to forget the bad times, especially towards season’s end. As the calves become stronger and their immune defence develops, we forget about the hours of electrolyting scouring calves, the frustrations of calves with no suck reflex, transitioning […]

If you are a dairy farmer with a spring calving herd, now might be a good time to reflect on how many downer cows you’ve had to treat for milk fever (periparturient hypocalcaemia) last spring. Treating downer cows is not only stressful, it’s expensive in terms of treatment costs, time, energy and the impact on […]