I was speaking to a few farmers who have housed cattle in the last few weeks and they are very happy with the performance since housing. Feeding animals around troughs in fields gets tricky at this time of year and generally they will hang around the troughs waiting for more meal, leading to decreased intakes and suboptimal performance.

Try to house on a dry day and leave dosing for a few days until cattle have settled indoors. Vets in the northwest are advising to dose for fluke at housing and take faecal samples two months post-housing to determine presence of adult liver fluke. Keep an eye on withdrawal dates.

Clipping backs and tails will leave cattle a little easier to keep clean and will help to reduce sweating in sheds. A good cereal-based three-way mix of maize, barley and soya hulls will suffice with finishing cattle. If feeding rates go over 5kg/head/day, split across two feeds morning and afternoon.

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