Although temperatures are low, and grass growth is below normal levels for April, dwindling silage supplies and pressure on housing is forcing more and more farmers to slip cattle out to grass, thereby easing the workload.

As cattle go to grass, there are some management tasks to consider first.

Completing these tasks as animals leave the shed is time well spent.

1. Weighing stores at turnout

For autumn weanlings, yearling stores and maiden heifers, it is a good idea to weigh cattle as they go to grass.

Not only will this give an indication of how well animals performed over winter, weighing now give a sound basis to measure performance over the grazing season.

For farmers participating in BEEP-S, weighing cows with 2020 autumn-born calves at turnout is the most time-efficient and practical option for farmers working on fragmented land.

For autumn weanlings, yearling stores and maiden heifers, it is a good idea to weigh cattle as they go to grass

2. Tidy up horns

Make sure animals with horns have been addressed before turnout. This applies to spring-born calves and stores with horns that grew back because of poor technique when disbudding.

3. Castrating autumn calves

In herds that normally sell autumn-born male calves as strong weanlings, or yearlings at the end of the grazing season, make sure these animals are properly castrated.

Once calves are over six months of age, it is a legal requirement that castration is carried out by a vet.

4. Vaccines

Make sure all vaccines are up to date to cover problems with clostridial disease, BVD and lepto, or respiratory diseases in calves and bought-in stores.

5. Turning cows out based on breeding groups

Just before cows go to grass, check over breeding animals and make a decision on which cows will go to which stock bulls.

As ground conditions improve, slip cows out to grass based on these breeding groups from the outset.

This way, when breeding starts in late May, or June, cows are already in designated breeding groups.

This is huge time-saver as there is no need to gather and re-group animals in late spring.

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