A few of my fellow beef cattle officers have been telling me that significant areas of the State have moved into a new phase in regard to drought recovery.

Stock have started to move onto cereal crops and short new pasture growth. This has caused a number of animal health problems to emerge.

Producers need to be careful during this phase as it can lead to many "good season" deaths.

Brett Littler, NSW DPI Beef Cattle Officer at Mudgee, advises producers to make sure their 5-in-1 vaccinations are all up to date.

Cattle need to be vaccinated every three months for best results and this is best done before animals are changed onto different feeds.

Also, when introducing stock onto new pasture it is important to follow a few quick steps to minimise any potential problems.

Never put hungry stock straight onto new pasture or crop as they will gorge themselves and are therefore at higher risk of consuming more toxic feed.

If possible, fill stock up on hay or silage before introducing them to a new paddock.

Alternatively, put stock onto a new paddock later in the day as they will have usually had some feed.

Some producers when very concerned about possible problems (like nitrate poisoning) will use a few less valuable animals to test a paddock out before introducing a new mob/flock.

More information about bloat and the like is available from you local NSW DPI livestock officer or at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au