Herd Tasks: Your weekly farming checklist
Aim to keep total intakes in spring calvers up to maintain performance.
· Continue to apply fertiliser as the recent rain should push growth and ground is in great condition for good autumn growth, all going well.
· Keep a close eye on freshly calved cows to ensure that they have passed all of their cleanings. Cows can get very sick if they have retained any of the foetal membranes. It will have a major effect on her future reproductive efficiency and early intervention is crucial. The more times a cow cycles before you commence breeding the better chance you have of getting her back in calf.
· Autumn calving will soon start and getting cows off to a good start will be important to optimise yield and subsequent fertility. Appreciate the limitations of autumn grass to a fresh cow and supplement accordingly.
· Aim to keep total intakes in spring calvers up to maintain performance.
o Many are supplementing heavily to stretch grass and allow farm covers to improve once we get sufficient moisture. All will need to be balanced correctly to maintain performance.
o Those supplementing are getting excellent responses from their herd, milk is too valuable to be losing at this early stage of lactation.
· Autumn calving will soon be in full swing-insure new born calves get sufficient colostrum within the first 3/4 hours of life.
· If you are creep-feeding spring calves - make sure that the concentrate being fed contains good quality ingredients to encourage intake.
· Get calves to be weaned castrated, vaccinated and dosed well in advance.
· Continue to supplement suckler cows with Magnesium licks.
· Keep dosing up to date- I have seen a lot of stock lately who are long overdue a dose and are showing all the signs of it. They are coughing and when I ask it has been far too long since the last treatment.
