It’s time for the spring roundup as we’ve already moved well into the breeding season. The cows are sporting a variety of colours of tail paint. Tim is inseminating at home and Colm in the second unit. Both men have had over a 90% submission rate in the first three weeks of breeding.

Any cows that have not gone to dairy have been treated to bring them cycling. The advice is to attend to these cows early in the breeding season rather than later so as to further tighten-up the calving period. Everything flows from that all important submission rate. Ninety per cent submission rate x 60% conception rate = 54% pregnancy rate. This is the goal of compact calving, ie half the cows calving in the first three weeks.

Cartoon by Clyde Delaney.

Last Saturday, I began washing calf coats. I will work through them over the next few weeks. We have stock board on the gates in the calf shed to reduce draughts and hinder the spread of disease. A few cable ties had come loose in places. For weeks I’d noticed them and although they annoyed me, I just couldn’t spare the few minutes to fix them.

The fact that I’m getting to these little jobs now means the pressure is off for me. Most of the calves are out and being fed mechanically once a day.

Review and plan again

It is critical to review our performance over the spring. It covers many facets. I consider it important to write down my thoughts as I go because it is easy to forget small details that will make a difference to future performance.

Some weeks back I was thrilled not to have lost any calf in over 100 calvings. The good run continued and every calf of the 162 was born alive and healthy. I was delighted. As can happen, a bit of rota virus blighted my record as many of the last 20 got a scour. Most put it over them in 48 hours.

During the Easter break, one day at around 2pm, I went out to give an electrolyte to a hardy red Jersey bull. Incredulously, I found him dead. My recrimination of myself began immediately. Where had I gone wrong? I thought this was the year when I could chalk up no fatality on my watch.

The men told me to forget about it. But I’d prefer to find out why I lost him. At first sign of scour, he’d been isolated and given electrolytes at midday and midnight between feeds.

Part of the problem of the last few calves is that the concentration of antibodies is low in the transition milk available due to lack of freshly calved cows

He was poorly the following morn and only had a few sucks of milk. Normally, they’d be recovering after two electrolytes but he never made it. So he either had another problem or I made a mistake. Maybe he didn’t get colostrum as soon as he should have? I’d love to be able to open my notebook and check how many hours old he was but alas there is no time for such recording when you are busy. All I can do is aim for the elusive 0% mortality next year.

Part of the problem of the last few calves is that the concentration of antibodies is low in the transition milk available due to lack of freshly calved cows. I’m planning on freezing ice cubes of early colostrum next year to administer to late calves for the first week of their lives.

Maybe I’m mad but I’d love to wipe out these hiccups. I’ve spoken to a few farmers who are experiencing the same problem and it would be great to get rid of it. It gave me two weeks of hardship when I didn’t need it.

Can’t beat the odds

I was about to have my breakfast one morning last week when Tim asked: “Is that calf out there lying down by the water trough all right?” She didn’t look right. I ran out.

As I neared her I knew she was dead. A beautiful 12-week-old heifer! She had her head twisted between a pole and the water trough. Yet she had plenty of room to extract herself from it. There’s no knowing what happened to her. I was gutted. But Tim was quick to tell me “You cannot beat the odds!”

But wouldn’t you just love to all the same. Five hundred euro down the drain. That’s farming life. Nevertheless it’s been a good spring.