The deluge of heavy rain over the past fortnight has brought the grazing season to a close for many livestock farms, and housing is now underway.
A common trend that farmers report is that while there is grass in front of cattle, ground is saturated and animals are poaching swards as they grow increasingly unsettled.
While housing cattle in late September realistically means a seven month winter for most farms, there is little sense in causing excessive ground damage simply to clean off standing swards.
Downside
Ground that is poached in autumn is unlikely to be repaired until next May or June. Such swards may struggle to grow grass next spring.
The other downside with current grazing conditions is that wet grass quality has a low dry matter, limiting cattle’s energy intake.
Weight gain will be minimal without offering significant levels of concentrate, and feeding meals during wet grazing conditions causes further ground damage.
Assess grazing
Therefore, farmers should consider housing options as ground conditions become increasingly harder to manage.
If drier land is available, prioritise lighter animals for grazing and house heavier cattle now. When it comes to housing, outlined are 10 tips to keep in mind.
1. Be proactive and house in groups
Rather than holding every animal out at grass until all grass is cleaned off, or there are no dry paddocks left, be proactive and bring in small groups of cattle. Aim to house when animals are dry.
Housing in groups every few days makes it easier to monitor animals for signs of illness, particularly in young stock.
Start with finishing cattle, as delaying housing will see forward stores losing condition and weight should they remain outside eating wet grass during the autumn.
These animals are better off housed now and fed good quality silage with meal. Weight gains will immediately improve, as such animals can benefit from a short period of compensatory growth.
Autumn calving cows should also be housed now. Feeding high quality silage will drive milk production and boost cow fertility ahead of breeding.
Spring calving cows with strong calves that can be potentially weaned post-housing should also come indoors. Milk yield in these cows will be declining, and they should be settled in-calf.
2. Don’t house and wean on the same day
Where spring calving cows and calves are being housed, do not wean animals on the same day. The change in environment will leave calves stressed and more prone to respiratory diseases.
Let calves settle in the shed for a week, then start the weaning process where animals are at a suitable age and weight.
3. Avoid dosing and excessive
handling when housing
Other tasks to avoid with young stock is doubling up on handling tasks such as worming, fluke or respiratory vaccines on the same day as housing.
Again, this creates added stress and leaves calves, weanlings and young stores immune suppressed and more vulnerable to pneumonia. Let animals settle, then treat where necessary.
4. Feed meal morning and evening to young cattle
As soon as young cattle are housed, offer a high dry matter forage along with some concentrate to help transition to the indoor diet.
For the first week post-housing, split the meal allocation to a morning and evening feed. This should show up any animals that are slow to come forward to eat. Such animals are likely to be in the early stages of sickness and require immediate treatment.
Calves should have access to a dry straw bedded pen once housed. If creep space is inadequate, can a temporary creep be set up at one end of the shed on the feed passage until weaning is complete?
Offer meal in the creep area, rather than at the main feed barrier where they will have to compete with cows. This avoids calves being bullied or injured.
6. Clipping cows and finishing cattle
While the advice is to avoid doubling on other handling tasks with young stock, cows and finishing cattle are less prone to respiratory problems.
Clip the tails and backs of cows and finishing cattle as soon as it is practical after housing. Clipping the tails on cows helps to keep udders clean, an important factor during the weaning period.
Clipping along the animal’s back will allow cattle to regulate heat better, preventing cattle from sweating. Do the same with calves once they have settled in the shed.
Consider treating for fluke with a product that targets the parasite at the early and mature development stage. Just be mindful of withdrawal dates in finishing animals.
7. Clean out water troughs when housing
A job that many farmers forget is to clean out water troughs before bringing animals inside for the winter.
Clean water is a crucial part of cattle diets, especially finishing animals on high levels of meal. Empty troughs, remove debris and check they have been refilled with fresh, clean water when housing.
Daytime temperatures are extremely mild, despite the wet conditions. Mild weather creates multiple challenges to housed cattle.
Airflow is crucial in sheds during mild spells to remove the build-up of disease pathogens. If you enter the shed and there is a strong smell of ammonia, airflow is inadequate.
Keep shed doors open, avoid parking machinery in the feed passage that can hinder airflow and alter side sheets or the roof apex as necessary.
9. Avoid housing weanlings in the same air space as forward stores
Where possible, avoid housing weanlings and forward stores in the same airspace, particularly on farms where animals are being bought in on a weekly basis from marts.
Cattle can shed disease pathogens, such as IBR, once stressed. If possible, house strong cattle in separate sheds from young stock to reduce the potential spread of disease.
10. Lying space and feed barrier access
Ensure cattle have adequate lying space to get high levels of weight gain over winter. With finishing cattle, pen animals based on their final liveweight prior to slaughter time.
With weanlings and stores that will go back to grass, pen animals based on turnout weight next spring.
Consider that a pen of eight spring born bulls weighing 400kg and gaining 1.6kg/day have a cumulative weight gain of 89.6kg every week.
After five weeks, the cumulative weight gain is 448kg, which is the equivalent of adding an extra animal to the pen.
A tell-tale sign of overstocking in sheds is when all cattle in a pen cannot lie at the same time. Weight gain will be impaired as a result.
On slatted flooring, the typical suckler cow around 700kg liveweight will need 2.5m² to 3m² of lying space post-weaning. On a bedded floor, lying space increases to 4m² to 5m² for cows with a calf at foot.
Weanlings and medium weight store cattle will require around 2m² on slats, rising to 4m² on straw bedding.
Space at the feed rail should be around 500mm per cow when silage is fed ad-lib, rising to 700mm if fodder access is restricted.
Finishing cattle need roughly 600mm to 700mm of head space on a forage and high concentrate diet. Weanlings and light stores will require about 300mm to 350mm on a silage and concentrate diet.
Read more
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The deluge of heavy rain over the past fortnight has brought the grazing season to a close for many livestock farms, and housing is now underway.
A common trend that farmers report is that while there is grass in front of cattle, ground is saturated and animals are poaching swards as they grow increasingly unsettled.
While housing cattle in late September realistically means a seven month winter for most farms, there is little sense in causing excessive ground damage simply to clean off standing swards.
Downside
Ground that is poached in autumn is unlikely to be repaired until next May or June. Such swards may struggle to grow grass next spring.
The other downside with current grazing conditions is that wet grass quality has a low dry matter, limiting cattle’s energy intake.
Weight gain will be minimal without offering significant levels of concentrate, and feeding meals during wet grazing conditions causes further ground damage.
Assess grazing
Therefore, farmers should consider housing options as ground conditions become increasingly harder to manage.
If drier land is available, prioritise lighter animals for grazing and house heavier cattle now. When it comes to housing, outlined are 10 tips to keep in mind.
1. Be proactive and house in groups
Rather than holding every animal out at grass until all grass is cleaned off, or there are no dry paddocks left, be proactive and bring in small groups of cattle. Aim to house when animals are dry.
Housing in groups every few days makes it easier to monitor animals for signs of illness, particularly in young stock.
Start with finishing cattle, as delaying housing will see forward stores losing condition and weight should they remain outside eating wet grass during the autumn.
These animals are better off housed now and fed good quality silage with meal. Weight gains will immediately improve, as such animals can benefit from a short period of compensatory growth.
Autumn calving cows should also be housed now. Feeding high quality silage will drive milk production and boost cow fertility ahead of breeding.
Spring calving cows with strong calves that can be potentially weaned post-housing should also come indoors. Milk yield in these cows will be declining, and they should be settled in-calf.
2. Don’t house and wean on the same day
Where spring calving cows and calves are being housed, do not wean animals on the same day. The change in environment will leave calves stressed and more prone to respiratory diseases.
Let calves settle in the shed for a week, then start the weaning process where animals are at a suitable age and weight.
3. Avoid dosing and excessive
handling when housing
Other tasks to avoid with young stock is doubling up on handling tasks such as worming, fluke or respiratory vaccines on the same day as housing.
Again, this creates added stress and leaves calves, weanlings and young stores immune suppressed and more vulnerable to pneumonia. Let animals settle, then treat where necessary.
4. Feed meal morning and evening to young cattle
As soon as young cattle are housed, offer a high dry matter forage along with some concentrate to help transition to the indoor diet.
For the first week post-housing, split the meal allocation to a morning and evening feed. This should show up any animals that are slow to come forward to eat. Such animals are likely to be in the early stages of sickness and require immediate treatment.
Calves should have access to a dry straw bedded pen once housed. If creep space is inadequate, can a temporary creep be set up at one end of the shed on the feed passage until weaning is complete?
Offer meal in the creep area, rather than at the main feed barrier where they will have to compete with cows. This avoids calves being bullied or injured.
6. Clipping cows and finishing cattle
While the advice is to avoid doubling on other handling tasks with young stock, cows and finishing cattle are less prone to respiratory problems.
Clip the tails and backs of cows and finishing cattle as soon as it is practical after housing. Clipping the tails on cows helps to keep udders clean, an important factor during the weaning period.
Clipping along the animal’s back will allow cattle to regulate heat better, preventing cattle from sweating. Do the same with calves once they have settled in the shed.
Consider treating for fluke with a product that targets the parasite at the early and mature development stage. Just be mindful of withdrawal dates in finishing animals.
7. Clean out water troughs when housing
A job that many farmers forget is to clean out water troughs before bringing animals inside for the winter.
Clean water is a crucial part of cattle diets, especially finishing animals on high levels of meal. Empty troughs, remove debris and check they have been refilled with fresh, clean water when housing.
Daytime temperatures are extremely mild, despite the wet conditions. Mild weather creates multiple challenges to housed cattle.
Airflow is crucial in sheds during mild spells to remove the build-up of disease pathogens. If you enter the shed and there is a strong smell of ammonia, airflow is inadequate.
Keep shed doors open, avoid parking machinery in the feed passage that can hinder airflow and alter side sheets or the roof apex as necessary.
9. Avoid housing weanlings in the same air space as forward stores
Where possible, avoid housing weanlings and forward stores in the same airspace, particularly on farms where animals are being bought in on a weekly basis from marts.
Cattle can shed disease pathogens, such as IBR, once stressed. If possible, house strong cattle in separate sheds from young stock to reduce the potential spread of disease.
10. Lying space and feed barrier access
Ensure cattle have adequate lying space to get high levels of weight gain over winter. With finishing cattle, pen animals based on their final liveweight prior to slaughter time.
With weanlings and stores that will go back to grass, pen animals based on turnout weight next spring.
Consider that a pen of eight spring born bulls weighing 400kg and gaining 1.6kg/day have a cumulative weight gain of 89.6kg every week.
After five weeks, the cumulative weight gain is 448kg, which is the equivalent of adding an extra animal to the pen.
A tell-tale sign of overstocking in sheds is when all cattle in a pen cannot lie at the same time. Weight gain will be impaired as a result.
On slatted flooring, the typical suckler cow around 700kg liveweight will need 2.5m² to 3m² of lying space post-weaning. On a bedded floor, lying space increases to 4m² to 5m² for cows with a calf at foot.
Weanlings and medium weight store cattle will require around 2m² on slats, rising to 4m² on straw bedding.
Space at the feed rail should be around 500mm per cow when silage is fed ad-lib, rising to 700mm if fodder access is restricted.
Finishing cattle need roughly 600mm to 700mm of head space on a forage and high concentrate diet. Weanlings and light stores will require about 300mm to 350mm on a silage and concentrate diet.
Read more
Dairy AI drops by 9% as farmers switch to beef breeding
Watch: our photographers capture some of the ploughing competitors
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