Housing

The last two weeks have been a tale of two halves weather wise. Some famers in the south would actually welcome some rain to soften things, while farmers in the northwest have been housing cattle on foot of high rainfall and difficult ground conditions.

The weather forecast is better for the next few days, so hopefully ground will dry up again.

If you do have to house, dry cows are your best bet. Housing younger cattle is always a risk, as the change in temperature and stress of adapting to indoors can increase the chances of pneumonia occurring.

This week’s animal health focus has some good tips on keeping animals healthy this autumn, along with a page on preventing pneumonia. If you do have to house calves, make sure they have access to a well bedded creep area and avoid weaning at the same time as housing.

Finishing Cull Cows

Suckler cows that have been scanned and are not in-calf should be marked for culling. Some farmers will opt to sell these cows in the live ring (cows currently making between €2.20-€2.80/kg depending on condition and type), while some will opt to finish them.

Spring calving cows that are not in-calf should be weaned early, ideally once the calf is around 250kg liveweight.

In general, cows aren’t in bad condition this year and have improved a lot in the last few weeks. Weaning now will mean the cow has a shorter finishing period, and this will save money. Delaying weaning into late-autumn runs the risk of the cow losing condition. You will have to feed concentrates to build back up again, which will erode any profit margin.

Suckler cows are capable of a daily liveweight gain of 0.7-0.9kg/day once weaned. A continental suckler cow weaned at condition score three should take 50-60 days to finish, while a cow weaned at condition score 2.5 could take 90 days.

She will also require housing. With good quality grass, feeding 5kg/day of rolled barley should be sufficient.

If a concentrate mix is being used at €300/tonne, this will cost up to €1.50/day. Counting in grazing, the daily feed cost for the cow will be around €2.20/day.

Taking a cow beef price of €4.80/kg at a kill out of 55%, at 0.9kg/day, the cow is generating €2.40/day, which will just about cover feed costs.

If a cow has to be housed, feed costs will rise to close to €3/day on silage and 6kgs of rolled barley to continue the same weight gain with the margin uneconomical. The mart is the best option if you have small numbers.

First Calving heifers

First calved cows or heifers which have calved at 24 months for the first time need preferential treatment around this time of year, as they are still growing animals and need to be treated accordingly.

These animals should be weaned first to allow them regain some condition before housing.

Trying to put on condition indoors will cost more, and calving problems can occur where you do this too close to calving. Where these heifers are very thin, condition score less than two, they should get 2-3kgs of concentrates and good quality grass to allow them to pick up again.