Watch: beef questions and lessons from our mart nights

Q How long before I handle a cow that’s sick to calve?

At Ennis, Donal Lynch said that ideally a cow should be in the environment she’s going to calve (calving pen) at least a day in advance, while Doreen Corridan reminded that calving was a natural event over which farmers should never panic. Progress is the golden rule – if it stalls then you act. If play has stopped two hours after seeing a water bag from a mature cow, then it is time to intervene. With heifers, this stretches to three hours.

Q Once I handle do I have to pull?

No. If you handle a cow and can feel two front legs parallel to the ground, and a nose, and can get your hand in behind the head, it’s fine to let the cow back to her own devices.

Q My calf is stuck at the hips, is it time to panic?

“No. A calf will live all day if stuck at the hips,” said Doreen Corridan in Ennis. Should this happen, she advised farmers to try and move the calf gently from left to right. If this doesn’t work, the next step is to gently rotate the calf 90 degrees. These manoeuvres are to try and create a better angle for the calf to get through the pelvis. Where a cow is lying down, provided it was safe, she could be rotated on to her side or even her back to help release the calf.

Watch the calving section of the demonstration in our video below:

Q Once the jack is on, do I crank it hard and pull the calf out?

Absolutely not. In fact, our vets saw the jack as a last resort. Where two able-bodied people were present, they advised for them to pull using the ropes. In all cases where assistance is being given, only pull when the cow is straining and release the pressure when she isn’t. Pulling unnecessarily will restrict the calf’s ability to breath as well as increasing the chances of leg injuries. Ropes should be positioned above the fetlocks, with the knots on the underside of the leg. Once cranked to a tension, use downward motion on the jack to help the calf out as opposed to more cranking.

Q What do I do if the calf is coming backwards?

Time is of the essence here. Once a backwards calf comes past the hips, the umbilical cord breaks and the clock is ticking. Two things can slow progress when taking a calf backwards, the front elbow catching on the pelvis at the entrance to the vaginal canal and when the calf’s tail cocks upwards.

Q What is best practice on colostrum for newborn suckler calves?

A newborn calf needs 8% of its body weight (~3 litres) in colostrum within two hours of birth. Farmers at our events asked about giving frozen colostrum from a local dairy farm. All of the vets warned about the possibility of bringing Johne’s disease in by doing this and also said that nothing beats a cow’s own colostrum, but acknowledged that importing colostrum had its merits where heifers hadn’t come into milk.

Carrigallen vet Finbarr Kiernan said that artificial colostrum wasn’t colostrum at all, merely a kick-start to get a sleepy calf up and sucking.

He also stated that it takes a suckler calf 25 minutes of suckling to consume enough antibodies in the first hours of life – farmers should be wary of this.

Q How do I stomach-tube a calf?

At Ennis, vets Doreen Corridan and Donal Lynch outlined a step-by-step guide on stomach tubing, something many farmers refuse to do. Their first rule was cleanliness. Stomach tubing involves putting colostrum directly into the calf’s system, but also represents a means to put unwanted bugs in too – clean bucket, clean hands. Donal also encouraged farmers to have two stomach tubes in the yard, one for scouring calves and one for colostrum.

When beginning to tube, do not let milk flow until the tube is in place. With the tube sloping downward, feed the tube along the top of the calf’s tongue in the centre of the mouth. The calf should begin swallowing. The tube should go in around 12in.

Donal gave a great tip for knowing whether or not the tube was in the wrong place. “The calf’s airway is rigid like a slurry pipe. In contrast, the oesophagus, or food pipe, is like a lay-flat pipe or a fireman’s hose. So, if you can feel the end of the stomach tube along the calf’s neck you know you’re in the right place.

Q How do I revive a weak calf?

A weak or unresponsive calf should straightaway get ice-cold water in its ear and a stalk of straw up the nose. In Carrigallen, Finbarr Kiernan also said that piercing the calf’s septum (tissue separating the two nostrils) with a needle would help as it was an acupunctural pressure point for stimulating the respiratory system.

On hanging calves to drain fluid from the lungs, all the vets agreed that 90 seconds was a maximum and preferred using an upside-down jack to hoist a calf via the back legs versus hanging over a gate. Massaging the calf behind the front shoulder in a circular motion, while rotating the front leg, can help to stimulate the heart also.

Q How realistic is the €200/cow payment that the IFA is looking for?

While everybody agrees that a payment is needed to help the Irish suckler cow survive, Angus Woods was questioned at the Carrigallen event as to the chances of achieving this payment. He referenced the way the French government has allocated a payment to suckler cows and also introduced payments on weanling exports to inject cash into suckler farmers’ pockets.

Woods also outlined that every €1 spent on the suckler cow transcribed into a €4 injection into local rural communities and protecting the suckler cow will play a vital role in protecting the future of these rural areas.

Watch the full demonstration from Ennis mart in our video below:

Q Can a one-star cow move to a five-star cow in her lifetime?

Chris Daly from ICBF outlined at the Ennis event that it is possible for a cow to move from one star to five stars in her lifetime but it would be rare for a lot of cows to move in this way. It all depends on the sire of the cow and what information we have on her relations.

If we get a lot of positive data on her sire or grandsire, then yes, the cow will move up the rankings. Equally if the cow is performing very well, ie going back in-calf quickly, weaning heavy calves, etc. Cows could also move in the other direction if a lot of negative data comes into the database on her sire, close relations or her own performance.

Q What are the requirements to hit the 2018 Beef Data and Genomics Programme targets?

Gary Fisher, Teagasc Donegal, outlined at the Raphoe event that all animals for inclusion in the 2018 target must be genotyped four or five stars on 31 October 2018. They must be also over 16 months of age at this time. That means they must be born before 1 July 2017 to hit this target. Farmers need to be aware of this requirement and look at the number of culls, etc, that will be leaving the herd in the next two years. Farmers should have extra heifers genotyped to make sure they hit the 20% target in 2018.

Q What do I do if my cows have too much condition coming close to calving?

Ciarán Lenehan outlined at the Carrigallen event that if cows are too fit coming close to calving, it’s probably too late to take action this year. Starving a cow on top of calving could be detrimental to the calving process and colostrum production. Cows should be body condition scored at least two months out from calving and appropriate changes made to diets from that point forward.

Cows should ideally calve down in condition score 2.5, with cows over this being restricted feed or fed straw. Some farmers find feeding soya pre-calving can really help with colostrum production and a good-quality mineral should also be fed for a minimum of six weeks pre-calving.