Today, my first call was from a farmer who said: “My average farm cover is gone below 600kg, but I’ve 12 acres left with a nice cover of 1,200kg – what should I do?”
When I discussed the issue with him, the bottom line was he had four paddocks left with a nice cover of grass and the sun was shining. Should he graze them off with milking cows or leave them for early February? The answer is leave the paddocks for February.
Good fresh grass, green to the base, will hold through the winter and be much more valuable in spring than right now.
Yes, of course, the weather is good and land is dry, but the rules apply – close the farm cover with enough to allow you early grazing. Little point in grazing everything to the floor and then searching for grass for fresh calvers in February and nothing to be seen.
For me, getting fresh calvers out of sheds at a much busier time of the year when the days are long is much more advantageous than staying out for a few hours at the moment.
Those in Donegal will say they can’t keep any grass through the winter due to harsh weather, but their calving date is almost a month later in most cases anyway, so they will stay grazing now if they can.
I know a number of farmers prolonging the cows outside by feeding quality round bales in the field either in wagons, round feeders or along the electric wire. This works also and keeps stock outside rather than inside on concrete.
Condition scoring
Condition score cows now and anything less than 2.75 and calving in February should be dried off immediately. You will find the majority of spring-calving cows are heading for over BCS 3 – nice cover over the short ribs and long ribs.
Young cows going to the cows are showing most issues.
Hard frosts this week mean water troughs that are not in use should be disconnected, cleaned out and left empty to protect concrete from cracking. Also, close down doors in parlours, etc, to keep frost out and keep pipes moving.