Our Rangiora Vet Centre provides a wide range of interesting Small Animal medical and surgical cases all year round. Our clinic having achieved the NZVA Hospital Standards means clients received the highest level of Best Practice accreditation available in New Zealand.

 We are an ISFM Cat Friendly clinic, we operate a 24/7 After-Hours on-site clinic, and the majority of our vet staff hold post-graduate qualifications covering internal medicine, imaging, dentistry, acupuncture, emergency care and surgery. We have an experienced and passionate support staff team including a VTS anaesthesia tech and physiotherapy/rehabilitation team onsite.

Our modern spacious hospital includes 2 large theatres, a dedicated dental suite, 20 walk-in kennels, 6 consult rooms and a separate cattery. The established referral surgical caseload is supported by extensive surgical, anaesthesia and supportive care instrumentation and equipment.

We are privileged to have our own CT on site and have local access to MRI services.

This work is more variable depending on the time of year, it is worthwhile giving consideration as to which month would be most worthwhile for you to visit, to ensure you get the most out of your clinical experience and participate in the things of interest to you.

The strength of our agricultural economy is built around the efficiency of feeding grass outside, when it grows. Thus, we aim to have both dairy cows and ewes at peak lactation in the late spring, to maximise the efficiency of converting growing grass into animal protein. For this reason, our farming system is highly seasonal, to a much greater extent than most international visitors realise.

Nearly every dairy cow in the country calves in August - September; they all need to get back in calf in October - November - December; they all get pregnancy tested in January - March; and they are all dried off in May. Hardly any cows are in milk in June and July, there is some variation in timing around the country, but that is the overriding pattern.

What this means for a rural mixed vet practice, with a high component of clinical work as dairy, is that our calendar is highly seasonal too. We do a lot of particular jobs for a couple of months, then all of a sudden that job stops, and we start the next seasonal task, and are very busy with that for a couple of months, until it is time to move to the next one. All peri-calving and neo-natal work (calving’s, post calving issues, calf medicine, reproductive work) occurs in a short period from August to November.

The main activities for large animal work occur mostly within the timeframes given below:

DAIRY

• Calving from mid-July until the end of October

• Disbudding calves from mid-August to December.

• Pregnancy testing from mid-December on into May usually done with backpack scanners and individual headsets.

• Reproductive services (metri-checking and non-cycling cows) in September, October and November.

• Dry off procedures (administration of internal teat sealants and dry cow antibiotic therapies) April to mid-June

SHEEP

• Mostly lifestyle block work, with some commercial ram palpations in December

BEEF CATTLE

• Pregnancy testing in March and April.

DEER

• De-velveting from end October to early February.

ALPACAS

• Castrations in November and April

• Birthing assist from October to December

There are various other large animal jobs that occur all year round such as equine work, individual sick animal visits, lame cow treatment, emergencies, and the occasional goat and alpaca visit.

Our Equine Team offer a wide range of services. Winter (June-August) is our off season in which we are generally a bit quieter. The sport horse and racing work ensures optimal performance in the industry including:

• Lameness and poor performance investigations

• Preseason health checks

• Personalised training and fitness programmes

• In house blood testing

• Dentistry including wolf tooth removal

• Shockwave, PRP and IRAP treatments

• Pre-purchase examinations

• Wound Management

• Acupuncture

• Surgery including castrations

• Upper respiratory tract examination

• Endoscopy

• Tracheal wash

• Stem cells

The stud/breeding season runs from September through to January with work including:-

• Foaling’s and emergency caesareans

• Personalised breeding programmes for mares and stallions

• Rectal ultrasound scanning

• Natural service

• Artificial insemination using fresh and frozen semen

• Embryo transfer

• Pregnancy testing

• Anti-natal care and mare vaccinations

• Foal medicine and care

• Angular limb deformity corrective procedures

• Splinting

• Hoof extensions

• Periosteal strip

• Surgical correction

We also offer disease and prevention advice and vaccination including:-

• Tetanus, Strangles, Herpes and Salmonella

• Fecal Egg Counting, parasite prevention and drenching programs

• Nutrition and dietary advice

• In-house blood diagnostics

We have a full equine surgery offering major procedures including:

• Arthroscopic surgery and fracture repair

• Colic Surgery

• Upper respiratory surgery including laser

• Lameness diagnosis and ultrasonography

 Minor surgical procedures include:-

• Castrations

• Dental procedures

• Foal surgeries

• Caslicks and vaginal surgeries

• Wound management

• Hernia Repairs 

We are also the only vet clinic south of Massey University to offer equine CT services.