Business Rural North Summer 2021

| 61 • to page 62 RURAL SERVICES » East Coast Farm Vets Vet services covering a vast area The team wrapped up the hind scanning season at a spectacular location (top left). East Coast Farm Vets have your four- legged babies covered (top right). The Working dog clinic renovations began in March (below). B ased in Gisborne, in possibly one of the only drive-thru veterinary clinics in NZ, you’ll find the professional and helpful team of East Coast Farm Vets. This one-stop shop has an impressive, larger- than-life, spray-painted mural on one of the walls, which reflects life on the East Coast and the animals who dwell here. Much of the work done by this busy team is on location, covering a vast area of coastline and inland farms. They also offer farmers animal health and nutrition plans for sheep, beef, deer and horses. A lot of their work is seasonal and includes cow pregnancy testing, bull semen collecting and testing, pre-bull sale assessments, ram testing, pre- lambing season requirements and a conveyor crew who vaccinate, drench and administer capsules to ewes. The dynamic team at East Coast Farm Vets have a variety of skills, including farm and mixed animal vets, managerial, project and administrative “superstars”. East Coast Farm Vets is owned by veterinarian Andrew “Cribby” Cribb, who is also part-owner of Wairoa Farm Vets with Helen Taylor, senior veteri- narian. Cribby and his supportive teams are committed to providing the best animal health service in the Gisborne, East Coast and Wairoa regions and cover close to 400 kilometres of coastline and more than 130km inland. Although the two Farm Vet clinics are now stan- dalone practices, they are supportive of each other’s work and get together regularly for team building, support and socialising. Wairoa Farm Vets offer the same services as East Coast Farm Vets, as well as the newly created working dog clinic. “Working dogs are an essential part of the farm team. Whether you are in Gisborne or Wairoa, your working dogs are in good hands.” Alleva Animal Health products are developed in New Zealand speci ically for the needs of Kiwi farmers. Being locally owned and operated is important, says company general manager Blair Loveridge. “It is a fact that multinationals have product development priorities that aren’t necessarily in tune with what local farmers might like them to be. On a global basis cats, dogs, pigs and poultry are much higher in their priorities than cattle and sheep. That is why products such as combination drenches and sheep capsules tend to be the result of local innovation,” he says. A case in point is the Alleva Turbo® range released last year. It includes a world- irst formula speci ically designed for weaned calves called Turbo® Initial. “The oral drench provides worm parasite coverage, as well as helping to protect against coccidiosis. This combination helps provide protection during the vulnerable period after calves come o coccidiostat- treated meal onto pasture while supporting the development of their natural immunity to coccidiosis,” explains Blair. Turbo® Initial is stage one of the impressive 3-stage drench programme designed by Alleva Animal Health speci ically for growing cattle. “We’ve listened to the market and worked with vets to iron out as many pain points of cattle drench options in New Zealand as we can. The result is really exciting and a huge leap forward in terms of e icacy and safety Kiwi Innovation in Animal Health in cattle drenches,” explains Blair. The second product in the range is also an oral drench named Turbo® Advance. This targets cattle in that second stage of growth, where coccidiosis immunity has developed and they are still a safe size to drench orally. It can also be used on cattle under 120kg, which is often not an option with many other drench combinations, allowing for variations in growth rates within mobs. Turbo® Pour-on and Injection are alternate treatments for the third stage of growth, suitable for cattle that are too large for an oral drench. Other signi icant innovations include the Boss drench range and Blair cites Boss Pour-on and Boss Injection as evidence of the value of local innovation. “Boss pour-on is a huge leap in performance. Absorption is signi i- cantly better and Boss is also rain resistant. Boss Injection is another innovation that has given farmers a combination cattle treatment that is simply unsurpassed in terms of convenience and performance.” Founded by ex-Ancare sta Alleva is a growing force in the veterinary supply channel with drench brands such as Turbo®, Boss, Re lex, Corporal, Nexeprin, Bantix and Icon. All prod- ucts are available exclusively through veterinary practices nationwide. “The feedback we have had from many farmers is that they are pleased to see a local Kiwi quality product at a good price. For us the future is all about reinvesting in new products that will continue to anticipate farmer needs.”