Calves will be hitting the ground soon, which means now is a good time to let you know about the changes we’re making to our calf disbudding service. Historically we have offered two levels of disbudding service; with sedation and local anaesthetic, or through the crush with local anaesthetic alone. 
 
The combination of increased awareness around biosecurity, health and safety, and the upcoming changes to animal welfare legislation have meant that we have decided to promote disbudding under sedation as our preferred method this season. 
 
To make this change as easy as possible for our members, we have reduced the sedation disbudding price. The only difference at an on-farm level is that we don’t like the calves to have been fed in the four hours before they are sedated. For some farms this will require a change of routine on the day of disbudding. 
 
For those members who would still prefer their calves be disbudded through the crush we will continue to offer that service, but it will be more expensive than last year and may have fewer booking slots available. 
 
If you would like to discuss these changes further please call Mike or Rhonda at the Gordonton clinic on 07 8242103.