Avoiding odd nutrition-related health issues
Still no major increase in temperatures but it looks like there is the promise of double figures by next week. Even if some weather models are predicting a white Easter!
Unfortunately, growth will not take off straight away when air temperatures rise, as it will take a while for soil temperatures to rise too. The latest figures suggest that soil temperatures are currently below 5 degrees C. This needs to be 9-10 Degrees C before we see good growth. In reality on most farms that are currently very short of grass it will be at least four weeks before a good supply of grass is available if growth improves next week.
Allocating available grass and making sure you don’t run out
It is very important on heavily stocked farms that the first rotation is not finished until close to the third week of April. This will mean delaying turnout on most beef farms or at least slowing down the rotation by supplementing grass with concentrates and/or forage where still available.
If you begin the second round too quickly with low farm covers, you could end up chasing grass around the farm well into late spring/early summer.
Insure that you have sufficient fertiliser out in advance of better weather to take advantage of good growth conditions. Some have used a compound rather than straight nitrogen as the feeling is that the wet year has washed a lot of nutrients out of the soil. Some are also using fertilisers with some minerals and trace elements included. Silage ground should also have a proportion of its fertiliser applied as soon as it is possible to do so.
Avoiding nutrition related health issues
With little growth and low silage stocks, many have made big changes to diets for their cattle.
Many of the changes have been made with little or no nutritional advice and in some cases are totally inappropriate for the group of animals being fed.
For example, big volumes of beet being fed to dry cows or big volumes of straw being fed to young cattle with insufficient concentrates and certainly not enough protein. Reports from Vets suggest that they are beginning to see nutrition related issues popping up on farm.
Most of this is avoidable if diets are balanced correctly to cater for the animals needs properly. Energy is an essential nutrient for animals in order to perform basic functions. Animals that are under supplied with energy will have depressed immune systems and find it harder to fight off infections.
Getting balance right while waiting for grass to appear
As I mentioned above, there is an over emphasis on some farms to feed lots of straw, if available, to stock without balancing it correctly for the animals being fed. Feeding straw requires the balancing concentrate to be higher in protein than those used to balance silage. Now more than ever it is essential to get correct advice regarding how to feed your animals correctly with ingredients which perhaps you are not used to feeding.
Filling up cattle is only half the job, they must also be performing. Get the balance right by seeking some help with your stocks diets.
What you must try to avoid?
- Do not allow Suckler cows to lose excessive weight after calving as it will be very difficult to get them back in calf otherwise.
- Cows need to be in a positive energy status in order to achieve a viable pregnancy.
- Calves under cows where grass is scarce should be creep fed in order to reduce dependency on the suckler cow until sufficient grass is available.
- Good quality ingredients must be included in the creep feed in order to encourage intakes and support performance targets.
- Bulling heifers must be in a positive energy status in order to come bulling and go in calf.
- Many are considering leaving heifers housed until they are gone in calf.
- Undernourished weanlings indoors or outdoors will be more stressed and more prone to pneumonia etc.
- This is even more so the case when there is such a variation between current daytime and night temperatures.
- Stores that you intend to kill off grass need to continue thriving rather than losing weight if you want to kill them in the intended time frame. Cash is tight enough this year on beef farms, without delaying your stock going to market when it is avoidable.
