On Farm Technician Services
AsureQuality's 200 on farm technicians based all over New Zealand provide a range of services including calf disbudding, facial eczema monitoring, tb testing, sampling collection, cattle weighing, post mortems, pregnancy scanning, lepto vaccinations, milk cooling traceback, hormone growth promotant to over 80,000 dairy, beef and deer farms nationwide.
Our Technicians can assist you with:
- Tuberculosis (TB) testing
- Facial eczema monitoring
- Sample collection
- Calf disbudding
- Cattle weighing & condition scoring
- Post-mortems
TB testing
With rigorous training and experience, a working knowledge of the National Pest Management Strategy for Bovine TB (NPMS) and the associated policies, plus proven stock handling skills, AsureQuality's On-farm Services staff are well equipped to provide efficient and cost-effective TB testing services for both cattle and deer.
Testing can either be a scheduled test under the Animal Health Board's TB testing requirements for cattle, or it can be completed as a "peace of mind" test where farmer's request testing for assurance their deer and cattle are TB free.
Testing requires the field technician to:
- Inject tuberculin into the animals skin at a designated test site,
- 3 days later go back to read/inspect the injection site to establish if the animal shows a reaction at the injection site. (No reaction = test pass)
- Extensive communication and reporting ensures the TB program is effectively controlling the disease throughout the country.
The TB control programme in New Zealand is guided by the National Pest Management Strategy for Bovine TB (NPMS). It is managed by the Animal Health Board under the programme "TBfree New Zealand".
The programme works on two fronts:
- Disease control - aiming to control and contain the spread of the disease within cattle and deer herds
- Vector control - aiming to control and contain the wild animal species mostly responsible for spreading the disease to cattle and deer.
Calf disbudding
For ease of handling and as an animal welfare consideration we remove calf horns at less than 6 weeks of age - a service which provides many long term benefits for you the farmer . We can also dehorn your animals that are past the disbudding stage.
Facial eczema monitoring
Facial Eczema is a potentially fatal disease that thickens the bile ducts, damaging the liver of sheep, goats, cattle and deer. It is caused by the toxin sporidesmin, which is produced by the spores of the fungus pithomyces chartarum.
We offer a range of spore monitoring packages to aid in identifying the level of spores and consequent Eczema risk that a paddock may present.
Cattle weighing & condition scoring
Progressive farmers often use growth rates and/or weight records to assist in identifying emerging health or feed quality problems. AsureQuality provides experienced stock handlers and electronic scales for cattle weighing. The results can be received as a printout or by email. Condition scoring can be done at the same time if required. This service is provided by trained staff (usually our trained field technicians) who provide a sound, objective and impartial assessment of the condition of the herd.
Post-mortems
Post-mortems of possums, ferrets, feral pigs and deer are performed to examine and in some cases extract all lymph nodes, lymphocentres or tissues of the carcass. These are performed to better manage disease and vector control.
