Calving is almost finished for our autumn herd and it has been a busy few weeks. So far, we have 22 cows with 24 live calves on the ground as of Saturday 29 August, leaving just four cows still to calve.
The first animal to calve was a heifer. She calved outside on 19 July, which was a good week or so ahead of her time and, thankfully, her calf was up and sucking without any need for assistance.
The rest of the cows calved in August, with 16 animals calving over a 14-day period. All cows have calved outdoors, which has cut down on the workload and disease risks posed to newborn calves.
The autumn cows and heifers are calving to our Simmental and Stabiliser stock bulls. Calves are born easily and are quick to get up and suck, which is ideal when calving outside. We have lost one calf, which died just after it was born.
Cows are calving to either the herd's Simmental or Stabiliser stock bulls.
Post-calving management
Cows are on a grass-only diet after calving, with minerals supplied through lick buckets. They will remain on grass only up until housing time.
Once housed, cows will go on to first-cut silage and 2kg/day of concentrate until the end of the breeding season. At this point, they will stay on a silage-only diet until turnout.
Housing and breeding
All being well, cows will be housed on 1 October, with breeding starting two weeks later. Grass growth has been good in recent weeks, despite it being wet.
There is plenty of grass on-farm and more than enough in front of cows to keep them outside until 1 October, if weather conditions permit.
Ground conditions
The heavy rain last week has left ground soft and harder to manage. So, to prevent ground damage, the autumn cows have been split into smaller grazing groups and spread out over the farm.
With second-cut silage finished around the start of August, silage fields have been brought into the grazing rotation. This has helped to stretch the rotation and enabled us to spread cows out.
All cows have calves outdoors. Cows are on grass and minerals post-calving.
Calf health
With weather being much more variable lately, the autumn-born calves have been given the first shot of the Bovipast vaccine for pneumonia. Calves have also been given an IBR vaccine.
Having such a tight calving block makes it possible to vaccinate calves on the same day.
Silage analysed
With silage finished up for another year, there is more than enough in store for an early winter. First-cut silage was analysed last week and the results were excellent. Dry matter is 34.6%, energy 11.8 Mj ME, 16.1% crude protein, with the overall D-value at 73.8%. Silage was cut on 15 and 22 May.
At the outlined feed value, silage will drive weight gain in growing cattle and support high levels of milk production in autumn-calving cows.
Breeding finished and scanning under way in spring-calving cows
The breeding period finished up at the start of August for the spring-calving cows. With the stock bulls removed, the cows have been regrouped for grazing and management.
All cows that have a bull calf have been separated from those with a heifer calf. This means we were able to introduce creep feeders to the bull calves to drive weight gain before housing.
With all male calves finished as bulls, getting as much weight on spring-born animals by housing time reduces the duration of the indoor intensive feeding. Creep feed is not offered to the heifer calves, as they have plenty of grass in front of them. Meal will be given once they are weaned and housed.
Smaller groups
With the breeding season finished, it was also much easier to split the spring-calving cows into smaller groups once grazing conditions started to deteriorate. If cows were still running with the bull, this would not be an option.
Scanning
This year, we bred 30 replacement heifers for the spring-calving herd. These heifers were synchronised and bred to AI using easy-calving Angus and Salers sires on 16 May.
Repeats were covered by a Limousin stock bull. The heifers have been scanned and 28 are settled in-calf. Any heifers not in-calf will be fattened this winter. Not all of these heifers will be needed for the spring-calving herd, so we will have a good draft of in-calf heifers for sale. Some of the cows have also been scanned, with 36 animals settled in-calf, leaving a further 24 animals still to scan.
Preparing for weaning
All calves in the spring herd have been given their booster vaccine for pneumonia and wormed using a pour-on.
Depending on the weather, the bull calves will stay outside until the start of October. Once housed, they will be weaned on to high-quality silage and concentrate feeding will be stepped up. If conditions are less favourable, bulls will be housed earlier than this to keep them thriving.
Grazing swards were analysed last week and dry matter was down at 13%. Hopefully, conditions improve during September, which will improve grass quality and weight gain.
With the bulls and autumn cows housed by early October, this should leave more grass for spring-born heifers to stay out until late October.
The plan would be to wean heifers outside by gradually removing cows in small groups, leaving heifers in the same field.
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Calving is almost finished for our autumn herd and it has been a busy few weeks. So far, we have 22 cows with 24 live calves on the ground as of Saturday 29 August, leaving just four cows still to calve.
The first animal to calve was a heifer. She calved outside on 19 July, which was a good week or so ahead of her time and, thankfully, her calf was up and sucking without any need for assistance.
The rest of the cows calved in August, with 16 animals calving over a 14-day period. All cows have calved outdoors, which has cut down on the workload and disease risks posed to newborn calves.
The autumn cows and heifers are calving to our Simmental and Stabiliser stock bulls. Calves are born easily and are quick to get up and suck, which is ideal when calving outside. We have lost one calf, which died just after it was born.
Cows are calving to either the herd's Simmental or Stabiliser stock bulls.
Post-calving management
Cows are on a grass-only diet after calving, with minerals supplied through lick buckets. They will remain on grass only up until housing time.
Once housed, cows will go on to first-cut silage and 2kg/day of concentrate until the end of the breeding season. At this point, they will stay on a silage-only diet until turnout.
Housing and breeding
All being well, cows will be housed on 1 October, with breeding starting two weeks later. Grass growth has been good in recent weeks, despite it being wet.
There is plenty of grass on-farm and more than enough in front of cows to keep them outside until 1 October, if weather conditions permit.
Ground conditions
The heavy rain last week has left ground soft and harder to manage. So, to prevent ground damage, the autumn cows have been split into smaller grazing groups and spread out over the farm.
With second-cut silage finished around the start of August, silage fields have been brought into the grazing rotation. This has helped to stretch the rotation and enabled us to spread cows out.
All cows have calves outdoors. Cows are on grass and minerals post-calving.
Calf health
With weather being much more variable lately, the autumn-born calves have been given the first shot of the Bovipast vaccine for pneumonia. Calves have also been given an IBR vaccine.
Having such a tight calving block makes it possible to vaccinate calves on the same day.
Silage analysed
With silage finished up for another year, there is more than enough in store for an early winter. First-cut silage was analysed last week and the results were excellent. Dry matter is 34.6%, energy 11.8 Mj ME, 16.1% crude protein, with the overall D-value at 73.8%. Silage was cut on 15 and 22 May.
At the outlined feed value, silage will drive weight gain in growing cattle and support high levels of milk production in autumn-calving cows.
Breeding finished and scanning under way in spring-calving cows
The breeding period finished up at the start of August for the spring-calving cows. With the stock bulls removed, the cows have been regrouped for grazing and management.
All cows that have a bull calf have been separated from those with a heifer calf. This means we were able to introduce creep feeders to the bull calves to drive weight gain before housing.
With all male calves finished as bulls, getting as much weight on spring-born animals by housing time reduces the duration of the indoor intensive feeding. Creep feed is not offered to the heifer calves, as they have plenty of grass in front of them. Meal will be given once they are weaned and housed.
Smaller groups
With the breeding season finished, it was also much easier to split the spring-calving cows into smaller groups once grazing conditions started to deteriorate. If cows were still running with the bull, this would not be an option.
Scanning
This year, we bred 30 replacement heifers for the spring-calving herd. These heifers were synchronised and bred to AI using easy-calving Angus and Salers sires on 16 May.
Repeats were covered by a Limousin stock bull. The heifers have been scanned and 28 are settled in-calf. Any heifers not in-calf will be fattened this winter. Not all of these heifers will be needed for the spring-calving herd, so we will have a good draft of in-calf heifers for sale. Some of the cows have also been scanned, with 36 animals settled in-calf, leaving a further 24 animals still to scan.
Preparing for weaning
All calves in the spring herd have been given their booster vaccine for pneumonia and wormed using a pour-on.
Depending on the weather, the bull calves will stay outside until the start of October. Once housed, they will be weaned on to high-quality silage and concentrate feeding will be stepped up. If conditions are less favourable, bulls will be housed earlier than this to keep them thriving.
Grazing swards were analysed last week and dry matter was down at 13%. Hopefully, conditions improve during September, which will improve grass quality and weight gain.
With the bulls and autumn cows housed by early October, this should leave more grass for spring-born heifers to stay out until late October.
The plan would be to wean heifers outside by gradually removing cows in small groups, leaving heifers in the same field.
Read more
Thrive: poorer weather sees meal introduced to calves
Tullamore Farm: Cows scanned and new rams purchased
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