dairy cattle programme

Tuesday 23 June 2026

7am	Registration opens	Level 3
8am	Welcome \| Rob Mills (NZVA President)	Theatre A Level 5
8.10am	Plenary: Learning through times of disruption: navigating AI \| Sir Ashley Bloomfield	Theatre A Level 5
9am	Morning tea	Exhibition Hall Level 3
9.30am	Bulk tank BVD breakdown \| Andrew Weir LIC has been testing bulk tank milk for BVD since 2007. In this presentation, I'll display the trends and patterns from the hundreds of thousands of tests accumulated over that time.	Room 505 Level 5
9.55am	Double PG in early NCC Cidr programmes and wearable detected heats \| Ben Finlayson How the usage of a second PG at 24 hours after cidr removal affects the rate of cows coming on heat prior to fixed time AI, and the resultant outcome with regards to conception rates and pregnancy rates to observed heat and fixed time AI.	Room 505 Level 5
10.20am	Using calf neosporosis testing to reduce herd N. caninum prevalence \| Cecilia Van Velsen The IDEXX Neospora ELISA can be used, with adjusted cut-off values to compensate for maternal antibodies, for calves post-colostrum intake to determine if calves are congenitally infected.Rearing replacement calves that were classified as not congenitally infected significantly improved the proportion of heifers calving off around 2 years of age, compared to cohorts born prior to implementation of testing.The proportion of seronegative replacement calves dropped markedly when tested heifer cohorts started to produce replacement calves, and continued to decline each year.A cost-benefit analysis showed that testing is no longer economic when the proportion of seropositive replacement calves drops below ~3%.	Room 505 Level 5
10.45am	Effective heat stress mitigations \| Charlotte Reed Heat stress must be managed to maintain dairy cow comfort and productivity, and the social license to farm. In industry workshops, farmers have signaled that they are looking for evidence-based information on the effectiveness of different heat stress mitigation strategies to aid with decision-making. In response, we have designed a study that compares multiple herds with or without different heat stress mitigations, using sensor technology (IceQubes, smaXtec, milk meters) to capture differences in physiology, production, and behaviour. In this presentation, we will discuss our approach and share our findings to date.	Room 505 Level 5
11.05am	Toxic gases produced during disbudding and PPE effectiveness \| Daniel Cragg During disbudding numerous toxic gases are produced which the disbudder can potentially be exposed to. A study was performed to measure the gases produced and compared this with WorkSafe NZ acceptable exposure limits. We then measured if clipping hair prior to disbudding and wearing effective PPE is sufficient to reduce the exposure of the disbudder to below WorkSafe NZ acceptable limits. This is a large study that was performed across multiple farms to achieve statistically significant results to ensure that our disbudders are safe during the procedure.	Room 505 Level 5
11.30am	Closed reduction techniques for the bovine dislocated hip \| Mat O’Sullivan	Room 505 Level 5
12pm	Lunch	Exhibition Hall Level 3
1pm	Lumbar epidural anaesthesia for standing flank surgery in dairy cattle \| Hiroe de Wit Standing flank laparotomy in cattle requires reliable regional anaesthesia to ensure animal welfare and surgical success. Lumbar epidural anaesthesia (LEA), widely used in Japanese cattle practice, offers advantages over local infiltration techniques but has not been evaluated in New Zealand. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of LEA in 14 adult Kiwi-cross cows undergoing standing rumen fistulation. LEA was performed at the L1–L2 or T13–L1 space using small fixed volumes of xylazine and lidocaine. Epidural access was successful in 78.5% of cows, and 90.9% achieved excellent surgical analgesia. Mild ataxia occurred without recumbency or postoperative complications, supporting LEA as a safe and effective technique.	Room 505 Level 5
1.25pm	Surgical correction of abdominal navel abscesses in dairy calves \| Isabelle Cassan Although I have diagnosed (and operated) on a hundred or so calves with a navel abscesses that extend into the abdomen over the last decade or so, I have come to realise that few vets are aware of this condition and the overall positive outcomes from surgical intervention. I will discuss how I diagnose these cases, prepare calves for surgery and approach the surgery itself. I also want to touch on common complications I’ve come across and how I’ve changed my protocol to reduce the risk of these complications occurring.	Room 505 Level 5
1.50pm	Bumps gone bad: tackling sequestra and tuber coxae injuries \| Kristina Mueller Pelvic injuries are common in cattle, with tuber coxae fractures being particularly frequent. Bone sequestration occurs following penetrating injuries, blunt trauma, or infection affecting the periosteum, most commonly at sites with minimal soft tissue coverage like the distal limbs. These injuries are challenging because they heal poorly without intervention and prevent cattle from being transportable to slaughter. This presentation covers practical diagnosis and surgical management of both conditions, including sequestrectomy as a therapy and strategies for post-operative care. We'll discuss wound management techniques, realistic healing timelines, and decision-making to optimize animal welfare and return to productivity.	Room 505 Level 5
2.15pm	The right approach: surgical management of common abdominal disorders \| Kristina Mueller Right paralumbar fossa laparotomy is the most versatile approach for bovine abdominal surgery, allowing thorough exploration and management of multiple conditions through a single incision. This presentation covers indications for surgery and decision-making using a field-based toolkit, discusses systematic abdominal exploration, opening and closure techniques, and surgical management of common conditions including displaced abomasum (LDA/RDA), cecal dilatation and torsion, and intestinal problems. The focus is on practical decision-making to improve outcomes while prioritizing animal welfare and safety for both cattle and practitioners.	Room 505 Level 5
2.40pm	Addressing milk quality while adopting selective a DCT policy \| Duncan Crosbie	Room 505 Level 5
3pm	Afternoon tea	Exhibition Hall Level 3
3.30pm	Enhancing leptospirosis diagnosis and outcomes for rural and Māori communities \| Jackie Benschop Poor community awareness and inconsistent laboratory testing for leptospirosis means cases go undiagnosed. Initially patients are febrile with severe headache and exhaustion. Over half of notified cases are hospitalised for an average of 4 nights and leptospirosis has chronic sequelae. We were funded by the New Zealand Heath Research council in 2021 to undertake work to (1) increase awareness, (2) improve testing, and (3) determine the true incidence of disease in a rural case study site. I will present our results across this programme of work.	Room 505 Level 5
3.55pm	Prospective calf study to help define optimal weaning strategies \| Louise Salter Early-life nutrition and weaning strategies strongly influence calf growth, health, rumen development, and future productivity (Khan et al., 2007; 2011). While ear-tag accelerometers (e.g., CowManager) are widely used in cows for health and reproduction, their application in calves is emerging. Limited evidence exists on how rumination metrics in pre-weaned calves relate to milk intake, weaning stress, disease incidence, and long-term performance. Current weaning protocols based on age (6–8 weeks), weight, or concentrate intake (Thomson et al., 2018) do not account for individual variation in rumen development. Behavioural data from CowManager tags, particularly rumination and activity, could provide functional indicators of readiness for weaning and identify calves struggling with dietary transitions. CowManager has developed calf tags suitable from ~14 days of age. Which could help us to:1. Characterize rumination development from 2 weeks through post-weaning under different strategies.2. Evaluate how performance-based weaning affects rumination trajectories.3. Predict short-term outcomes (growth checks, disease risk) and long-term outcomes (age at first calving, milk yield, survival).4. Support decision rules and economic justification for individualized weaning.	Room 505 Level 5
4.20pm	Spontaneous humeral fractures in dairy heifers - a practitioner’s view \| Mat O’Sullivan	Room 505 Level 5
4.45pm	Botulism outbreak in dairy herd \| Paul Field Case description of a botulism outbreak in a New Zealand dairy heard in Spring 2025.	Room 505 Level 5
5.10pm	Mitigating production loss: insights from 4 years of zinc check data \| Paul Jamieson With four years of ZincCheck data, Fonterra analyzed results from 2022–2025 to determine if optimal zinc dosing as indicated by the ZincCheck status can provide evidence of reduced production losses.	Room 505 Level 5
5.30pm	Happy hour	Exhibition Hall Level 3
7pm	NZVA Special Interest Branch Dinners and NZVNA Dinner

Wednesday 24 June 2026

7am	Registration opens	Level 3
8am	Plenary: Thriving and striving at work - the ultimate win win \| Charlotte Cantley	Theatre A Level 5
8.45am	NZVA AGM	Theatre A Level 5
9.30am	Morning tea	Exhibition Hall Level 3
10am	Using NRR and wearables to guide real-time mating decisions \| Elena Knupfer Traditional fertility measures provide useful benchmarks but offer limited insight until pregnancy diagnosis. Integrating Non-Return Rate (NRR) with heat-activity data from wearable technologies enables earlier assessment of conception success during mating. This case study explores how NRR and heat-pattern data can be used to predict reproductive outcomes, identify potential phantom cows, and guide optimal early pregnancy scanning in pasture-based New Zealand dairy herds. Data from multiple commercial farms were analysed to examine NRR reliability over time and its relationship with conception and return patterns.	Room 505 Level 5
10.25am	The heat signature: what oestrus patterns reveal about your herd \| Melinda Little and Kelly Andrews Reproductive performance is central to dairy efficiency, and understanding how cows express oestrus can offer valuable insights for improving breeding outcomes. This presentation introduces how continuous monitoring can help build a clearer picture of heat patterns, variation between cows, and the factors that may influence expression across seasons. Drawing on trends observed in New Zealand herds, we discuss how heat‑signature data can complement existing fertility management approaches. The session aims to provide a practical overview of how technology‑supported monitoring can contribute to more informed, timely, and consistent breeding decisions.	Room 505 Level 5
10.50am	SenseHub dairy youngstock behaviour and its associations with calf weights \| Matt Buckley	Room 505 Level 5
11.15am	Connected vet case study - interesting insights surfaced when you cross Herd-i, CowManager and Herd Test data on farm \| Krispin Kannan	Room 505 Level 5
11.40am	Sexed semen in heifers - can we improve conception rates? \| Ryan Luckman The use of sexed semen in dairy heifers has historically been limited by poor performance relative to conventional semen, with reported conception rates 12–19% lower. Recent advances in fresh sexed semen products, combined with the adoption of new 5-day heifer synchrony programmes, present an opportunity to test whether this performance gap can be narrowed to the industry-accepted benchmark of 5% seen in cows. This talk presents the results of a nationwide trial conducted across New Zealand during Spring 2025, and discusses whether these combined improvements can make sexed semen a more viable and reliable option for heifer breeding programmes.	Room 505 Level 5
12.05pm	Making sense of sensors: how we practice now \| Line Ferriman Wearables now track nearly every aspect of a cow’s life, yet the real challenge lies in interpreting that flood of data meaningfully. For veterinarians, the question is not whether technology has value, but how it fits into daily practice without replacing clinical reasoning or adding unmanageable workload. This is a practice-based reflection drawing on the development and delivery of CowSmart, a veterinary-led business working across multiple monitoring platforms. The session explores what “data consultancy” means in practice, examines challenges around data quality, time restraints, and interpretation, and invites reflection on using technology as an extension of observation rather than a replacement—keeping veterinarians connected to the cow, the client, and the data that now surrounds them.	Room 505 Level 5
12.30pm	Lunch	Exhibition Hall Level 3
1.30pm	Water intake as a diagnostic tool: lessons from NZ data \| Jeff Hill and Kelly Andrews Water intake is an integral and often-overlooked indicator of dairy cow health and herd performance. This presentation explores how patterns in drinking behaviour - both at the individual cow level and across herds - can provide early insights into emerging health issues, environmental stressors, and management challenges. Drawing on observations from New Zealand dairy farm case studies, we discuss how monitoring water‑intake and drinking frequency can support more proactive, data‑driven decision‑making. Attendees will gain an understanding of the potential value of integrating water‑intake trends into modern herd‑health and productivity management.	Room 505 Level 5
1.55pm	Stuck with wearables? A practical roadmap for building client services that work \| Matt Stancombe This talk will share key lessons I've learned from using wearable data to create value-driven services for clients. You will leave with an idea for a next step you can apply in your own clinic, whether you haven't started or are just a bit stuck. I will outline a consulting framework based around improving reproduction and nutrition, and show how it can be delivered using Cowsmart, Datalive, or even simple manual processes.	Room 505 Level 5
2.20pm	Applied nutrition \| Charlotte Westwood	Room 505 Level 5
3pm	To be confirmed	Room 505 Level 5
3.30pm	Afternoon tea	Exhibition Hall Level 3
4pm	To be confirmed \| Charlotte Westwood	Room 505 Level 5
4.40pm	BVSc new curriculum - what to expect \| Jenny Weston A new, competency-based curriculum has been implemented since 2023. The first graduates from this curriculum will finish in late 2027. The teaching and assessment philosophy is evidence-based but quite different to previous curricula. The profession is still heavily involved with students 'seeing practice' from BVSc3 and new graduates will still require support and mentoring. This presentation describes the development of clinical skills (from BVSc2),how you can add value to the assessment of students that spend time with you, and the Day One Competencies you can expect of new graduates.	Room 505 Level 5
5.05pm	Use of AI for time saving in dairy consults \| Sunita McGrath	Room 505 Level 5
5.45pm	NZVA Awards	Theatre A Level 5
6.30pm	Networking dinner	Exhibition Hall Level 3

Thursday 25 June 2026

7am	Registration opens	Level 3
8am	Farmer adoption of wearables - the UK perspective \| David Rose	Room 505 Level 5
8.35am	Supporting good practice calf rearing \| Penny Timmer-Arends Feeding calves more, and more often, especially in the first few weeks when they are solely reliant on milk for nutrition, leads to better growth, better welfare, improved immune function, and potential production benefits once they enter the milking herd. DairyNZ are supporting farmer change to improve early life nutrition through the creation of new resources for vets and farmers, on-farm events and farmer case studies. This is underpinned by a behaviour change plan based on the COM-B model, which proposes three necessary components for any behaviour (B) to occur: capability (C), opportunity (O), and motivation (M).	Room 505 Level 5
9.05am	Prevalence of subclinical facial eczema amongst R1 and R2 cattle \| Ray Castle This presentation explores a real-world case study of Johne’s disease management in a large Mid-Canterbury dairy operation, highlighting the critical role of timing, trust, and collaboration between veterinarian and farmer. It demonstrates how shifting from theoretical risk to visible economic impact transformed decision-making and enabled action. Through strategic testing, practical financial tools, and tailored herd management, the case illustrates that successful Johne’s control is not about rigid protocols, but about flexible, farm-specific solutions. Ultimately, it shows that sustainable disease management depends as much on relationships, communication, and empathy as it does on diagnostics and veterinary science.	Room 505 Level 5
9.30am	To be confirmed \| Tennielle Ellingham	Room 505 Level 5
10am	Morning tea	Exhibition Hall Level 3
10.30am	Winter grazing success stories \| Mark Bryan	Room 505 Level 5
11am	Yes e.coli mastitis can cause coliform grades \| Steve Cranefield	Room 505 Level 5
11.25am	Tales from the trenches - when shit hits the fan \| To be confirmed	Room 505 Level 5
11.55am	Postmortem techniques \| Colin Mason	Room 505 Level 5
12.30pm	Lunch	Exhibition Hall Level 3
1.30pm	Johne’s Disease: aligning veterinary guidance and farmer readiness for success \| Toni Johnston	Room 505 Level 5
1.50pm	Efficiency signals: what fertility and cow size are telling us in New Zealand herds \| Izzy Willison As herd genetic profiles continue to evolve, understanding how different traits translate into system performance is becoming increasingly important. This session works through real herd data to explore the relationship between fertility, cow size, and overall efficiency within pasture-based systems.	Room 505 Level 5
2.10pm	A BVD conundrum - where procedure failure becomes liability \| Susan Geddes The document highlights how diagnosing BVD in dairy herds relies on a carefully managed sampling and testing process. It illustrates how an investigation unfolded when results did not align with expectations and shows how easily errors at any stage—from collecting and labelling samples to processing and interpreting them—can affect outcomes. The discussion emphasises the importance of consistent technique, clear communication, and thorough verification when working through a diagnostic sequence. Ultimately, it reinforces that clinical reliability depends on mastering fundamental practices and maintaining strong attention to detail to ensure accurate results and better on farm decision making.	Room 505 Level 5
2.30pm	Understanding the behaviour behind the business \| Alex Murphy The hardest part of your job is not animal health. It is understanding the human making the decisions. Farmers are operating in an increasing complex environment with economic, regulatory, social and capital environments shifting fast. Equity partners, succession planning, governance layers and external capital are changing who has influence and how. This session will examine the drivers behind today's farmer behaviour and offer practical insights into who really holds influence on farm and why, and how you can engage in a way that strengthens your impact as a trusted advisor. Because while science may inform your recommendations, it's behaviour that will determine if they are acted on.	Room 505 Level 5
3pm	Methane mitigation products are coming - are you ready? \| Emma Cuttance	Room 505 Level 5
3.30pm	Afternoon tea	Exhibition Hall Level 3
4pm	Colostrum: does it really matter? \| Rebel Skirving	Room 505 Level 5
4.25pm	Key attributes of flourishing partnerships between farmers and vet advisors \| Katrina Roberts Strong relationships between farmers and rural advisors, in particular veterinarians, lead to better implementation of advice and adoption of recommendations. Key findings from a social science project, completed as part of the Kellogg rural leadership programme, which included interviews with veterinary advisors, farmers and vet business owners, and a literature review, will be shared. Personal connection was identified as the pillar of flourishing advisory relationships and the value in these partnerships is a combination of one-way and two way elements. Actionable suggestions will be discussed in order for vets to be more comfortable and successful moving into this role.	Room 505 Level 5
4.50pm	To be confirmed \| Veterinary Council of New Zealand	Room 505 Level 5

Combined session with another stream.

This programme was correct at the time of publication. Speakers and titles are subject to change.