WHILE northern NSW farmers continue to battle the drought, those who have felt the sweet relief of rain could face their own set of profitability pitfalls.
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Rapidly improving pastures and wet, warm weather often lead to animal health problems, including foot abscess in sheep and cattle poisoning.
Those who have been in the game a while will often say you will lose more stock in a good season than in a dry one, and this year is shaping up to be one of the best.
Central West Local Land Services (LLS) veterinarian Greg McCann said while the change in season was mainly good news, livestock producers had to monitor some issues.
Dr McCann said while improved pastures would always make more money from mud than dust, farmers needed to be on the lookout for foreign plants in their paddocks.
"With the turnaround in the season, depending on how bare people had country, we are seeing a risk of poisoning because of growth of plants that don't normally grow," he said.
Pastures needed to be monitored for nutrient value before being grazed.
"We need to look at the body condition and feed availability especially with lambing ewes with the idea of watching out for pregnancy toxaemia, keeping in mind if they are twin baring or aged, it becomes more of an issue," Dr McCann said.
Department of Primary Industries (DPI) grazing systems technical specialist Phil Graham, Yass, said foot abscess would be prevalent due to the rapid weight gain of some pregnant ewes.
"If you have sheep that are a fat score two now you will be OK, but anything higher than that puts them at a larger risk of foot abscess," he said.
Boorowa farmer Stephen Hewitt, "Yundoo", is lambing 1000 ewes and works at Thompsons Rural Supplies Boorowa.
He said while he expected toxaemia, foot abscess was now the biggest concern.
"It's affecting 30 to 40 per cent of lambing ewes," he said. "It's a bit hard to treat when they're lambing."
Dr Graham has also seen more cases of Barber's pole worm than usual and wants producers to be wary of drench resistance in their sheep.
DPI Armidale veterinary parasitologist Stephen Love warned about Barber's pole worm, saying there was a common misconception cold weather would kill the eggs.
"Larvae, which have hatched during warmer weather, can survive into winter even if the eggs aren't still hatching," he said.
Mr Love said lamb producers needed to ensure proper paddock preparation to ward off worms, although if graziers had waited until now it was too late for this season.
He said May was the best time to drench for liver fluke, though drench resistance was an issue.
Parkes stock agent Geoff Rice, Langlands Hanlon, said the odd lame sheep had come through the yards, although cases had been minimal.
"We have seen foot abscess and lameness in the sheep coming through, where they have been in paddocks up to their bellies and haven't seen hard ground for a while," he said.
South West LLS veterinary specialist Alexandra Stephens said the area had had some cattle lameness.