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Dry and warm weather is forecast for the week ahead.
Settled conditions will help farmers start filtering cows with spring-born calves out to grass, particularly in the west and north of the country.
Before turning stock outside, there are a few tasks to consider first and tick off the to-do list, five of which are outlined as follows.
1. Disbudding calves
Check calves' horn buds and disbud where applicable. Some calves can develop buds from two weeks of age, while others can be as old as four to six weeks before buds emerge.
Handheld gas and electric dehorners work well with very small buds. Caustic paste can also be used.
However, for best results, lock the calf in a creep pen for five to six hours after application to stop the paste being licked off by the cow or washed off by rain.
2. Clostridial vaccines
On farms with a history of problems such as blackleg, giving the primary vaccine shot against clostridial diseases before turnout is time efficient, provided calves are at a suitable age.
The booster shot can be given in early summer when dosing.
3. Castration
On farms where cattle are finished or sold as strong steers every year, there is merit in castrating animals before turnout.
Some farmers prefer castrating male calves shortly after birth using a rubber ring and research shows no significant loss in liveweight gain compared with uncastrated by weaning age.
4. Breeding vaccines
Ensure cows have received all booster vaccines ahead of breeding to prevent diseases such as BVD, lepto and salmonella.
Maiden heifers may require a second booster shot after the initial primary vaccine, so factor this into the timeframe before breeding starts.
5. Turn cows out in breeding groups
When filtering cows out to grass, try turning cows out to make up particular breeding groups, depending on which bull they will run with.
This could be a maternal group with the aim of getting replacements, a terminal group or running second-calving cows and late-calving animals with a less extreme and easy calving sire.
Make sure cows have two ear tags as they leave the shed and take a note of which group cows go to. This makes it easier to find a calf that had a lost or empty BVD tissue sample.
It also makes it easier to match calves to specific stock bulls, preventing in-breeding in future years and allowing a comparison of progeny performance.
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