Pneumonia

I have heard of a number of outbreaks of pneumonia in sheds in the last few days, especially in creep areas with young calves. There have also been a number of outbreaks in spring-born weanlings. Problems are occurring where sheds are stocked high and in older sheds where ventilation is poor – try to leave doors open to increase air flow.

The unseasonably mild temperatures aren’t helping. Just because you have calves vaccinated doesn’t mean they won’t get sick, so daily herding is very important to make sure you pick up animals in time. Stress is a big factor, and a calf can get stressed if too hot or too cold, away from its mother, in draughts, or in wet lying conditions.

These can all be predisposing factors of pneumonia. If you do pick out a sick calf, be on high alert for more sick calves.

Talk to your vet about the management, dosing, vaccination and ventilation issues on your farm and put a programme in place to try and avoid any issues for the rest of the winter months. If you are in the face of an outbreak, avoid any dosing or castration until the disease challenge is gone.

Dry cow minerals

Early supplementation of minerals to spring-calving suckler cows is important for avoiding any issues around calving. If feeding powder minerals, make sure all cows have access to feed space. Feeding half rate twice a day can be a good insurance policy that all cows are getting enough.

A pre-calving mineral should have 0% calcium, around 4% phosphorus, around 13% sodium and around 17% magnesium. It should also have all the major trace elements, including vitamin E. Dry cow minerals should be fed for six to eight weeks out from calving.

Don’t forget about supplementing autumn-calving cows with minerals as well. Speaking to vets this week, they say there is little difference between boluses, powder minerals and drenches in terms of constituents, but the powder mineral on top of the silage gives the best chance of consistent daily supply of the required minerals before calving.

SCEP deadlines

With the weighing deadline of 1 November already gone, the next Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) date is 15 November – by which time the SCEP training must be completed.

This can be done online at www.sceptraining.ie, but if you are unable to access the online training course there are a number of in-person training days taking place around the country at the end of this week and the beginning of next week.

Mart demos

Our mart demos continue around the country, in partnership with Dovea Genetics and Munster Bovine. Our next roadshow takes place on 20 November in Clare Marts, Ennis, Co Clare.

There will be livestock demos, health tips from the local vet and information on how to meet all the requirements of the various schemes on drystock farms, to ensure payment issues without delay in December.

Admission is free, tea and refreshments will be served each night and there will also be a free raffle. The following week’s roadshow is in Kerry, at Gortatlea Mart, on 28 November.