Brian Reidy: Autumn calving, drying off and getting going again

Almost all sucklers will calve outdoors in the autumn, but make sure that you have everything ready indoors just in case you need to assist any difficult births, advises ruminant nutritionist Brian Reidy.

Thu, 04 Jul, 2024 - 15:19

Brian Reidy

Autumn calving on suckler herds will begin in the next month or so. Many will have weaned last autumn's calves, and cows are now dry, or they will soon be.

As well as gearing up for calving autumn cows, the creep feeding of spring-born calves will commence soon.

For many who are tight on grass due to slow growth, weaning calves will be a welcome help in reducing grass demand for a few weeks. This will mean that paddocks will get a bit more time to grow and hopefully result in a flush of grass for when the cows start to calve.

Creep-feeding spring calves

Creep feeding with meal and forward creeping grass will be being introduced in spring calving groups at present. Cows are generally in good condition, despite the poorer weather all year, and you can, as a result, afford to let them work a little harder while offering the calves the best of grass in the next paddock.

Cows will not be yielding big volumes of milk as this point. Any creep meal should be of top quality to encourage intake and aid good performance. Try to keep birds away from feed where possible to avoid disease that could occur.

Autumn-calving cows

In general, almost all sucklers will calve outdoors in the autumn, bar any problems which may occur. However, make sure that you have everything ready indoors just in case you need to assist any difficult births.

Wash out and disinfect calving boxes before the season gets going. Check that the water troughs in the calving boxes are clean and not blocked or leaking. Give the calving Jack a quick once over and insure that it is working and that the two ropes are in good order.

Switch on your calving camera and make sure it is working properly. Check that your calving gate is opening and closing properly. Some cows can get very aggressive around calving so properly functioning equipment is essential for your own safety.

Stock up on essentials, such as gloves, lube and iodine spray. Also, make sure your dehorning crate is fit for another season.

Dry suckler's feeding requirements

It is important that you don’t have suckler cows that are over-conditioned at calving. They should be dried off in the condition you would like to calve them down in. It is better to maintain condition during the dry period, rather than trying to adjust it either way.

Dry suckler cows that are too fat at calving tend to have more difficult calving and metabolic disorders, such as milk fever and held cleanings. This may also have a negative effect on their subsequent fertility.

Conversely, cows that are thin don’t have enough energy to calve and supply poor milk quality to the newborn calf. Try not to wean calves from fatter cows too early as this can result in them being way over-conditioned at calving, even on a low plain of nutrition.

Low plain of nutrition

Keeping cows on a relatively low plain of nutrition may involve dry cows grazing behind young stock, cows with calves or finishers. This means that the productive stock can get the best of the grass and the dry cows can tidy up behind.

It is important for grass quality that the dry cows follow the other stock within 24-48 hours; otherwise, they will eat regrowth rather than the grass left behind.

If you must graze dry sucklers on good quality swards then you should use a strip wire and consider supplementing with some straw or coarse hay to restrict total energy intake. That is if you can get either with supplies very tight.

Some will strip-graze dry cows on strong grazing swards rather than making bales. Supply a good-quality pre-calver mineral in front of all dry sucklers for at least four to five weeks before calving.

Please don’t listen to those who claim to never feed a mineral to cows. I wish the best of luck to them, but there are inherent mineral deficiencies around Ireland, and they need to be addressed, especially in cows close to calving, to avoid a stressful calving season for farmers and animals.

If you know of specific mineral deficiencies on your farm then you may need to give cows a bolus or get a bespoke mineral premix made up for your herd.