Karuah and Great Lakes Landcare (KGLL) took to Facebook recently to spread the message.

"District vets have been seeing some serious and deadly cattle health issues in recent weeks as cattle are allowed out early onto newly recovering drought-stricken pastures, and supplementary feeding is ceased," the post read.

"Vets are seeing scours, malnutrition, pulpy kidney deaths, kikuyu poisoning, toxic plant poisoning and nitrate poisoning.

"Early regrowth of highly stressed pastures is green and delicious but is overly watery, devoid of nutrition, rife with weeds, and can even be toxic.

"Moreover, ruminants take very poorly to sudden dietary change. It is best for the cattle to slowly adapt over a couple of weeks."

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KGLL coordinator and vet, Joel Dunn, said a rapid change in diet was a big part of the problem.

He believed it was important to implement a gradual transition from supplementary feeding to pastoral feeding not only to ensure the health of the animals, but also for the health of the vegetation.

"That gradual transition is really important for the pastures coming back in a sustainable way," Mr Dunn said.

"Pasture ecosystem health and resilience is best served by letting as much pasture as possible have an extended recovery time after drought, so that perennial roots can establish depth, and ground cover can be properly re-established, giving better soil infiltration and water holding capacity."

Despite the issues with cattle health, Mr Dunn said the recent rains had been a great thing for the region.

"It's lifting spirits absolutely," he said.

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