Bucks for Brains

Use your down & sick cows to help protect NZ by swapping brains for bucks!

Every year the NZ government needs to ensure that we are free from TSE (Mad Cow Disease) so that we can trade beef products freely worldwide. To do this, brains from eligible cattle showing neurological disorders must be shown to be free from the disease, which is where vets and farmers come in.

To be eligible cattle must:

1. Be between 30 months and 9 years old

2. Show progressive neurological deficit or behavioural change

3. Be unresponsive to logical metabolic treatment

Any down cow that doesn’t get up could qualify, and the $250 pay out per cow from the NZ government is more than what is offered from the pet food truck.

If you think you have an eligible cow, first call us and we will decide whether she qualifies. If so, we will arrange a visit ASAP to humanely euthanise the cow if required (please do not shoot her as this will ruin the brain) and remove the brain. We have checked and the dead-cow pickup truck can still be called if you cannot dispose of the body yourself. For this service we only charge $100 and when you add this the dead-cow pickup charge you will still come out ahead when comparing to a pet food call!

Freshly dead cows are also still usable.

Please note that the lab will only accept 2 samples per farm per year, but we would hope that you don’t need the service more than twice this season!

So don’t let your calving casualties go to waste - make a bit of cash by donating them to a good cause!