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Coping with Current Weather conditions
If animals have had to be turned outdoors due to a lack of housing space, make sure to check on them regularly, especially early in the morning. Pay close attention to calves to make sure they are suckling and keeping up with their mothers.
Cows were very unsettled outdoors on Tullamore Farm on Wednesday morning and meal feeding was increased to try to settle them. Water supplies are very important in cows sucking calves. Check that water troughs are not frozen over and if animals are without water for a period of time, make sure that water is introduced gradually to prevent gorging. With yard areas frozen, only move stock if you have to. Moving animals on slippy surfaces could result in stock breaking legs and is a health and safety hazard for the operator. With shed space at a premium on many farms and stock backing up in sheds, hygiene is critical in preventing disease. Make sure that calving pens are well-bedded with straw and that young calves have a clean, dry bed to lie on. Some farmers are housing cows on slats, keeping calves on straw and allowing calves suck twice a day, cutting down on straw usage. Applying lime to calving pens can help reduce infection and also help in drying up wet pens.
Ad-lib feeding: Animals on high levels of meals have a high requirement for water. As a rule of thumb, for every 1kg of concentrate fed to bulls, they will require six litres of water. Moving to silage as a roughage source will help to reduce water requirements. If animals don’t get enough water, intakes will be reduced and performance will be affected. Treat animals on ad-lib meals as first priority in sourcing water.
Health and Safety
With extra pressures around the yard looking after stock and slippery surfaces, the cold weather presents higher risks and health and safety challenges around the farm.
Take your time carrying out tasks and seek help if you have to, rather than taking unnecessary risks. Take extra care when walking on slippery surfaces and remember to eat well and wrap up warm. Take time to check in on elderly neighbours if you can. You may be the only contact they have with the outside world.
This week on Tullamore farm
Over the past few days, preparations have been ongoing in dealing with the onset of Storm Emma. Cows were moved to a sheltered paddock with good hedges on Tuesday. A temporary shelter was built with straw bales, corriboard and a sliding door and this bedded with straw for calves.
Bales were placed in front of sheds in the yard to provide shelter from the east wind. Temporary water tanks were filled up in case water pipes in sheds freeze. Silage went out to all stock grazing outdoors. Meal feeding was increased to cows with calves at foot. There are currently 35 cows calved on Tullamore Farm. The average birth weight of bull calves is 46kg, while heifer calves birth weight is 41kg.
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