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Robert Abbott keeps a herd of 35 suckler cows on a single 30ha block of land near Edgeworthstown in Co Longford. At present, the herd’s calving pattern is split between spring (March-April) and late summer (July-August) and this aspect of Robert’s system is fast becoming the main subject of debate for the management team – when is the best time for Robert’s cows to calve?
This year, 22 cows slot into the spring herd and 11 in summer. While split herds like this can help with cashflow, Robert is keen to move to a single calving period.
“I think if I had a hundred cows it would make sense to split into two, but I don’t! I feel like 36 cows would be my ideal number and I want to finish some stock too. One calving period would streamline things – I feel I would be well able to manage the 36 in one block. The cashflow thing isn’t a huge issue here as I’ve established a small sheep flock to fill the cash hole in late summer,” Robert said.
There are pros and cons to both spring and summer calving, but at the end of the day it all depends on individual circumstances. For me, it’s about land, facilities and personal availability. Many farmers will start at the end when choosing a calving date – what type of animal do I hope to sell/slaughter and what time of the year do I want to sell?
Is this the right way to go about it? Or should we instead be thinking:
When we can typically get grazing?
What capacity there is to hold cows and calves inside in a healthy environment?
And, most importantly, what periods in the year suit best from a labour point of view?
If we can graze readily in March, have plenty of calving pens and creep areas and have no big external commitments in the spring, then spring calving is a no-brainer. We’ll get a long grazing season and lots of weight gain from cheap grazed grass.
In reality, there are plenty of suckler farms out there on heavy soils with limited housing that can and do come under pressure in sluggish springs, including Robert’s.
“I used to start calving in January and February, but stopped this year. I just felt like I was getting caught out with bad springs more often than not and February became a fire-fighting exercise with pneumonia and scour setting in. Our housing facilities are decent, but can’t accommodate big numbers of young calves. The land here is mixed in terms of how early you can get significant numbers of stock out. I took the decision to push back into March and April and wouldn’t go back. It might seem strange for a guy trying to sell weanlings to be advocating later calving, but when all is taken into account it was definitely the right decision,” Robert said.
One thing that surprised Robert when he let calving slip back was how easy it was to keep the spread tight. All but three of his spring cows have calved in just over a month. The most crucial period for a suckler cow is between calving and conception. This is not a time when we want to stress her and bad weather, bad silage, a scarcity of grass and repeated rehousing will all do this. By calving slightly later, we are breeding slightly later, which means that cows should have a longer period outside in likely better weather conditions, eating high-quality grass. We are affording her reproductive system every chance to recover and get going again in time to maintain, or even reduce her calving interval.
Many split calving spreads come about by giving empty cows a second chance and Robert admits that this led to his own split. However, he was quick to discover that summer calving has its benefits too.
“To be honest, it felt like a great time to be calving cows. They came to a paddock near the house in the days before calving and I never had to assist one last year. Only a couple of cows actually went inside. After a day or two in this maternity paddock they went back down to the main group. I ran them with the spring calvers for a few weeks post turnout and thereafter followed the spring herd with the summer cows. This was to stop them getting overfat in the runup to calving and also meant that I never had to push the spring group too hard to graze tight – which would’ve benefited them too. I didn’t have to vaccinate the summer calvers for scour either, as the risk was lower.”
The verdict
At present, Robert is leaning toward an all spring calving pattern, but very much a late-spring one. He is happy with his decision to stop any calving before March and confident that he and his yard can handle the increased calvings in what is currently an eight week period. Both the BETTER team and his local B & T adviser Shane Devaney are keen to push weight gain from grass on the farm and Robert himself knows that this pattern suits his farm from a grazing point of view.
Adviser comment
John Greaney
The calving pattern was highlighted on our first visit to Robert’s. Decent facilities exist already and he’s in a good position to go all spring calving. Gaining cheap weight at grass is the cornerstone of all beef systems and with a tight calving spread he’ll have a more uniform bunch of stock at grass to facilitate this. As he works off farm on a weekly basis and has a young family it makes sense to simplify the system.
Robert Abbott keeps a herd of 35 suckler cows on a single 30ha block of land near Edgeworthstown in Co Longford. At present, the herd’s calving pattern is split between spring (March-April) and late summer (July-August) and this aspect of Robert’s system is fast becoming the main subject of debate for the management team – when is the best time for Robert’s cows to calve?
This year, 22 cows slot into the spring herd and 11 in summer. While split herds like this can help with cashflow, Robert is keen to move to a single calving period.
“I think if I had a hundred cows it would make sense to split into two, but I don’t! I feel like 36 cows would be my ideal number and I want to finish some stock too. One calving period would streamline things – I feel I would be well able to manage the 36 in one block. The cashflow thing isn’t a huge issue here as I’ve established a small sheep flock to fill the cash hole in late summer,” Robert said.
There are pros and cons to both spring and summer calving, but at the end of the day it all depends on individual circumstances. For me, it’s about land, facilities and personal availability. Many farmers will start at the end when choosing a calving date – what type of animal do I hope to sell/slaughter and what time of the year do I want to sell?
Is this the right way to go about it? Or should we instead be thinking:
When we can typically get grazing?
What capacity there is to hold cows and calves inside in a healthy environment?
And, most importantly, what periods in the year suit best from a labour point of view?
If we can graze readily in March, have plenty of calving pens and creep areas and have no big external commitments in the spring, then spring calving is a no-brainer. We’ll get a long grazing season and lots of weight gain from cheap grazed grass.
In reality, there are plenty of suckler farms out there on heavy soils with limited housing that can and do come under pressure in sluggish springs, including Robert’s.
“I used to start calving in January and February, but stopped this year. I just felt like I was getting caught out with bad springs more often than not and February became a fire-fighting exercise with pneumonia and scour setting in. Our housing facilities are decent, but can’t accommodate big numbers of young calves. The land here is mixed in terms of how early you can get significant numbers of stock out. I took the decision to push back into March and April and wouldn’t go back. It might seem strange for a guy trying to sell weanlings to be advocating later calving, but when all is taken into account it was definitely the right decision,” Robert said.
One thing that surprised Robert when he let calving slip back was how easy it was to keep the spread tight. All but three of his spring cows have calved in just over a month. The most crucial period for a suckler cow is between calving and conception. This is not a time when we want to stress her and bad weather, bad silage, a scarcity of grass and repeated rehousing will all do this. By calving slightly later, we are breeding slightly later, which means that cows should have a longer period outside in likely better weather conditions, eating high-quality grass. We are affording her reproductive system every chance to recover and get going again in time to maintain, or even reduce her calving interval.
Many split calving spreads come about by giving empty cows a second chance and Robert admits that this led to his own split. However, he was quick to discover that summer calving has its benefits too.
“To be honest, it felt like a great time to be calving cows. They came to a paddock near the house in the days before calving and I never had to assist one last year. Only a couple of cows actually went inside. After a day or two in this maternity paddock they went back down to the main group. I ran them with the spring calvers for a few weeks post turnout and thereafter followed the spring herd with the summer cows. This was to stop them getting overfat in the runup to calving and also meant that I never had to push the spring group too hard to graze tight – which would’ve benefited them too. I didn’t have to vaccinate the summer calvers for scour either, as the risk was lower.”
The verdict
At present, Robert is leaning toward an all spring calving pattern, but very much a late-spring one. He is happy with his decision to stop any calving before March and confident that he and his yard can handle the increased calvings in what is currently an eight week period. Both the BETTER team and his local B & T adviser Shane Devaney are keen to push weight gain from grass on the farm and Robert himself knows that this pattern suits his farm from a grazing point of view.
Adviser comment
John Greaney
The calving pattern was highlighted on our first visit to Robert’s. Decent facilities exist already and he’s in a good position to go all spring calving. Gaining cheap weight at grass is the cornerstone of all beef systems and with a tight calving spread he’ll have a more uniform bunch of stock at grass to facilitate this. As he works off farm on a weekly basis and has a young family it makes sense to simplify the system.
A large estate owner challenged Monaghan County Council over a decision to grant planning permission for the expansion of Abbott Ireland's infant formula. manufacturing facility.
While there may be a perception that ewes are in good condition Teagasc are finding that some flocks have significant numbers of ewes requiring preferential treatment.
The 15 October deadline for completing actions in the National Sheep Welfare Scheme is approaching fast and farmers should ensure tasks are completed and recorded in the scheme action booklet.
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