Report on the Meetings of the Society of Dairy Cattle Veterinarians and the Society of Sheep and Beef Cattle Veterinarians of the New Zealand Veterinary Association in Christchurch, New Zealand, from June 19 to 21, 2024.
These two societies that are branches of the New Zealand Veterinary Association are both members of the World Association for Buiatrics and have been members since 1994. Each society holds at least one major meeting per year, often supplemented with local meetings and workshops. In 2024, both societies held their major annual meeting as streams that were parts of the Annual Meeting of the New Zealand Veterinary Association. The meeting was held in the Te Pae Conference Centre, a newly opened Facility built after destructive earthquakes destroyed the previous Conference Centre and much of central Christchurch in 2010 and 2011. The meeting spaces were modern and well equipped allowing the proceedings to occur smoothly and without incident.
The Sheep and Beef streams ran concurrently with the Dairy Cattle, Veterinary Business, Epidemiology, Industry and several companion animal streams making it difficult to choose which sessions to attend among so many relevant ones. Some high-profile themes for the overall conference and the dairy stream were climate change and environmental sustainability, antimicrobial use and resistance, animal welfare and artificial intelligence. Other conference topics included management of copper and selenium supplementation, Johnes disease, animal breeding, lameness, mastitis, reproductive monitoring and management and mastitis control.
The Sheep and beef cattle stream, including deer presentations, covered topics such as ewe mastitis, pain management in sheep, facial eczema, parasite control, drench resistance, weaning of deer, transport of deer and selenium supplementation.
Emeritus Professor Norm Williamson, Board Member of the WAB attended the conference and spoke at the Annual General Meetings of both cattle societies about their membership of the WAB, drawing attention to the advantages gained through membership including the WAB seminars which normally occur at 3.00 am New Zealand time! It was also highlighted that the seminars can be viewed online at the viewers convenience. Highlighted were the ability to attend WAB global meetings and participate in WAB activities such as entering for the Rosenberger Award, the Presidents Prize and student scholarships. These membership benefits were emphasized.
Both Societies also held their Annual Dinners in Christchurch in association with the meetings. The Alan Baldry Award was presented to Dr. Simon Marshall from Vet Services Dannevirke as a member “who has made a significant contribution to the sheep and beef industry.” The Alan Baldry Award was established by the British Sheep Veterinary Society and was presented to the Sheep and Beef Society of the New Zealand Veterinary Association in memory of Alan Baldry. At the Society of Dairy Cattle Veterinarians Dinner, the “Golden Glove Award” of the Dairy Cattle Veterinarians Branch “for outstanding service to the dairy industry was presented to Emeritus Professor Norm. Williamson of Massey University.
Attendees nominating for the different conference streams were 89 for the Dairy Cattle, 60 for the Sheep, Beef and Deer stream and 39 for the Epidemiology, Food Safety, Animal Welfare and Biosecurity stream.
