Grass Tetany:

With ideal grazing conditions, most cows are now out full-time and the level of meal feeding has dropped or increased on some farms where grazing began in early February. Beware of tetany risk, especially as nights are cold. Most standard dairy nuts require three or four kilos to be fed per cow per day to get the required amount of cal mag consumed, so check what it says on your feed docket. Most compounders will be able to provide a nut that only requires one or two kilos to be fed if required. In the water or dusting are other options. When calved cows are out on grass full-time, a 12 to 14% protein meal is sufficient. The energy content of the meal is more important than the protein. When ordering, make sure to ask what the UFL value is. Rolled barley has a UFL value of 1, and all other feeds are compared against this.

Calves:

On sunny days, the best place for calves is outside in a field rather than in a stuffy shed. If possible, get the oldest calves out and if they could get access to a shed at night all the better. While calves are good at using up superlevy milk, a disease outbreak in the calf shed is the last thing you want. Most farmers find no matter what amount of cleaning or disinfecting you do it is better to keep newborn calves out of a shed that has had scoured calves. Try to give them shelter in a shed or paddock away from sick cattle.

Tail Paint:

Bulling activity is increasing on farms and cows are showing strong heats. Steven Fitzgerald in Curtins Farm has the cows tail painted and will top this up once a week and jot down the cows with paint removed. In six weeks’ time when breeding starts, he will have a really good handle on the cows that aren’t yet cycling and will get these looked at by the vet. Other farmers won’t bother tail painting until breeding starts and then will focus 100% on the job and get the vet in to handle any cows not bred in the first 24 days.

Vaccines:

With six weeks or less until the start of breeding, now is the time to be giving the Lepto and BVD vaccines. Remember the maiden heifers need two shots, three weeks apart, so factor this into the timeline. Some products are licensed for same day administration, but make sure you give one shot in either side of the neck.

Dehorning: On farmersjournal.tv we show a video of dehorning calves. The regulations suggest farmers need to dehorn before a calf is two weeks of age or use an anaesthetic if a calf is over two weeks old. Some skilled and trained farmers and/or vets will remove the bud and some will decide not to remove the bud. In short, getting them done before calves get too old or before they pick up something and become sick which can delay dehorning.