Week 2

Living

             I am staying at the house of Veterinarian Steve Harkness. Who lives in a four bedroom two bathroom single story house in the middle of nowhere. Across the street from us is a small golf course and to either side of us are the boundaries of two separate farms, of which only one is currently in use. We get our water from a water tank in the backyard.

 

Vocabulary

             The Vocabulary as you would expect differs in New Zealand. The one everyone should know is that the restroom is called a toilet, very to the point. What I did not expect was the difference in vocabulary in farming and their reproductive terms. Before I left for New Zealand I thought that words such as: open, AI (artificial insemination) dairy parlor, dairy, Holstein and in heat were universal. However, they are not. In New Zealand AB (artificial breeding) is used more readily. Also, during pregnancy checks the word empty is used instead of open, and when cows are in heat and showing estrus by mounting each other it is known as bulling behavior. The major farming terms that differs are the names of where the milk is collected and processed and the names of the breeds. In America we would milk the cows in the “Milking Parlor”, however on my first day I was quickly informed that I would be laughed off the farm if I used that term. Two days later when I saw were the cows were milked I understood why. The cows are usually milked in more rickety structures than they would in America. Therefore, the term milking shed is more appropriate. In addition, in New Zealand a Dairy is where the milk is processed not where it is collected. If the UC Davis Dairy was in New Zealand it would be referred to as the UC Davis Dairy Farm. Lastly, Holsteins are called Friesians or Holstein Friesians. 

Dairy Farming in New Zealand

The dairy farming in New Zealand is Pastoral and seasonal not intensive and year round as it is in America. The main diet of the dairy cows is pasture grass supplemented with palm kernel and maize silage for extra energy. Probably due to the lower energy diet and pastoral farming practices the cows are much smaller than they are in the United States. The Friesians and Jerseys are about the size or smaller than an American Jersey. They are also narrower around the ribcage than American dairy cows.

Maybe working with Dough Gisi made me have higher than normal expectations from dairy farmers but farmers in New Zealand do not know what progesterone, PGF 2α, FSH and estrogen are and what they do to the reproductive organs. Therefore, it is the veterinarians in New Zealand who do the estrus synchronization, metritis checking and treatment in New Zealand. Farmers also hire outside technicians to do the AI or AB insemination as well.

However, this may have an advantage. The antibiotic resistance in New Zealand is very low. Usually a single dose of penicillin can cure an infection in New Zealand compared to the two doses a day for five day treatment we give to our dry cows in the United States. This could be because antibiotics are not used in feed but it can also be attributed to antibiotic treatment being done by mainly veterinarians.

Anexa

Steve works for a veterinary practice called Anexa and specializes in dairy cattle. What he does is provide veterinary care and management advice to the dairy farmers. Such as, making sure their animal are at an average body score of five before calving and breeding and encourages them to keep up with tail painting their herds. This is important because one of the main goals of seasonal dairies is to get most of the herd pregnant before the sixth week of breeding so all the cows come into calf in a condensed group. He also synchronizes their herds and does pregnancy checks.  He is fast too. It takes him less than a minute to determine whether a cow is pregnant via ultrasound, significantly faster than what I have been used too.