Grazing season drawing to a close

Back in August I thought that the grazing season might be over, with poor ground conditions making it near impossible to keep cattle outside.

Overall, it has been an exceedingly difficult year with the wet spring followed by a less than inspiring summer when the growth was well below expectations.

Having said that I was fairly content with how we were managing during the summer months. We were able to keep on top of grass and always seemed to have enough of a wedge in front of the cattle. There were opportunities to get grass cut and ground conditions stayed reasonable.

However, during August, ground conditions started to deteriorate and it gradually become harder to manage grass.

The grass was still growing, but proper utilisation was becoming exceedingly difficult, with cows, in particular, doing a lot of damage.

Paddocks that should have been lasting three days were only lasting one day and were black when the cows were moved. I was racing through paddocks and recovery time was becoming short.

Eventually I decided enough was enough and I housed some cows and calves. I put them in open yards and fed bales of silage in ring feeders. It certainly was not pretty. Cows got dirty and calves were horrendous looking.

I divided the calves from the cows twice per day to give them some meal and a cleaner place to lie. It meant a lot of extra work, but I didn’t have many options. I even considered weaning the cows and letting the calves back out to the field.

Favourable

The problem was that I felt that the calves were too small. They got a poor start in the spring and were already behind where I wanted them to be. If I were to wean them, there would be little chance of them catching up.

Thankfully, the weather changed, and I was able to get cows and calves out again. In the end, they were only in for between one and two weeks, but that little break made a big difference.

September was a favourable month with good drying and good growth. Cattle settled again very quickly and seem to have done reasonably well.

However, things have changed a bit since the beginning of October and it looks like grazing is over this time.

Ground conditions are still reasonably good but there is very little grass left so I have decided to wean my spring born calves. This last month has made a big difference to them. They now look a reasonable size for weaning.

Nose flaps

I am back to using nose flaps again this year.

I find them very straight forward for weaning as it allows the cows and calves to stay together.

The cows do become unsettled and start roaring, but the calves do not make any noise. After five or six days you can take the cows away and the calves will not miss them.

The cows will come into the house and be fed hay, and the calves will stay out and should take to meal fairly quickly.

I have been weaning this way for four or five years and I find it works well for us.

Plan

I always plan to wean spring calvers in early October, but there are not many years that the weather plays ball.

The last three or four years I have had to take the calves away in early September. The calves have been a shade small and this lost weight is extremely hard to catch up.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to take the calves off at the end of August.

In farming we plan to do things to the best of our ability, but the weather is the one big variable that we have no control over.