How to run your block

Starter, grower and layer feed and what each is for, why layer feed is wrong for growing chicks, raising chicks without medicated feed, what to watch for with coccidiosis, and when chicks can move outside.

Red mite, northern fowl mite, lice and scaly leg mite: the signs, the night-time torch check, treating the coop as well as the hens, the second treatment that gets forgotten, egg withholding, and why diesel is out.

Which blowflies cause it, why the season starts on a different day on every block, your hot-spot paddocks, the free half of prevention, a cheap fly trap as an early warning, the signs of a struck sheep, and what to do when you find one.

Spring is when the thin patches show, but in summer-dry country it's the wrong time to sow. Oversowing versus undersowing, why autumn wins, picking the paddocks, soil testing, kikuyu, endophyte and seed, what to do with a paddock that can't wait, and the first grazing.

Spring is when tick treatment starts to matter. The New Zealand cattle tick's year and why spring and autumn are the times to treat, which animals it affects, what Theileria looks like in cattle and what to do, how to check for ticks, what to read on the label before you buy, and why most ticks are in the grass rather than on the animal.

Most drops in lay are normal. Three questions that narrow it down, then the usual causes in the order worth checking — daylight (with New Zealand day-length figures), moult, age, broodiness, feed and water, mites, stress and hidden nests — and the signs that mean it is time to call the vet or MPI.

Cheap feed per kilo is not the same thing as cheap eggs. What a laying hen actually needs, why grain alone falls short and why that takes weeks to show, how scratch and scraps dilute a balanced ration rather than adding to it, whether grain really needs grinding, and which savings genuinely lower the cost of an egg rather than just the cost of a bag.

Colostrum protects the newborn, milk grows the calf, solid feed develops the rumen. Why the gut closes at 24 hours, what a Brix reading tells you that colour can't, why two current NZ sources give milk allowances that are double each other and how to read both, when calf meal and water should start, the weaning weights that are dairy examples rather than universal targets, and the follow-up weigh-in most people skip.

Pet lamb, bottle lamb or poddy lamb — the job is the same. Why colostrum in the first six hours is the one thing that can't be fixed later, how much milk to feed and how often, why goat kids are on different numbers, the feeding mistakes that cause scours and bloat, when solid feed and water start, and how to tell a lamb that is genuinely ready to wean from one that just likes the bottle.

Why drenching more often is not better worm management — faecal egg counts, drench checks, why the bottle looks the same when a product has stopped working, correct dosing, quarantine for bought-in stock, and the treatment records that make the next decision easier.

Most of the worm population is out on the pasture, not inside the animal. How grazing height, rotation length, leader-follower and mixed-species grazing change worm challenge, what refugia is, and why drenching straight onto clean pasture is a trap.

Why a soil test comes before any decision about lime, what low pH actually does to roots and nutrients, why the "right" pH differs by country, soil type and sampling depth, what lime does and doesn't do, and an evidence-first look at whether pasture diversity can correct acidity.

What else arrives on the trailer? What to ask a vendor before money changes hands, why there are two different quarantine clocks running and how long each one lasts, and the counter-intuitive rule that Wormwise and WormBoss both reach — don't put new stock on your cleanest paddock. Plus the ASD, NAIT and NLIS paperwork a private sale actually requires.

The published daily figures for sheep, cattle, horses, pigs and chickens in both countries — and why the New Zealand and Australian numbers differ by two to three times, which is the most useful thing on the page. Plus trough refill rate versus trough size, how much water leaks before it reaches an animal, water quality, and how many days of storage you actually have.

What the animal-welfare rules actually require — permitted methods, the caudal-fold tail-length rule, the six-month limits and where high-tension bands differ — plus the best age to do it, the health check worth doing while you have the lamb, why sheep are not NAIT animals, aftercare, and what to record.

What clostridial vaccines actually protect against, why the full primary course is what builds protection, how sheep, goats and cattle differ, why the same product name means different disease cover in different countries, how long a newborn's colostrum protection really lasts, and what to record so the booster is never missed.

How long pasture should actually rest, why rest days and recovery are not the same thing, what to leave behind after grazing, the three-leaf check, measuring pasture without expensive gear, and what is worth writing down.