The weather here in the northwest the past week has been horrendous.
Heavy showers are leaving ground conditions very poor on even the driest of farms.
To deal with conditions, cattle are being moved onto the next paddock daily.
Failing to move daily results in cattle continuously walking the paddock, as if out for a brisk Sunday jog.
Other than that, they are gathering in a corner for shelter and a chat about the weather, or generally turn what was a lush, green paddock into a mucky concoction of mini water ponds and hoof marks.
There was no grass measuring walk carried out this week, as I may have needed a small rowing boat rather than a plate metre to get around.
Autumn calving and a flighty cow
Calving has passed the halfway point and to date the heifer to bull ratio is running at two to one.
No harm in that, if they are all healthy and thriving I’m happy. Calves were dehorned recently and received a drench dose for the prevention of coccidiosis, a blood scour that leaves a lasting effect on calves.
The only major issue I had during calving so far was a cow that got very aggressive after calving.
Not only would she not let anybody near her or the calf, she was reluctant to let the calf suck for the first day. Eventually, I managed to get the calf away from the cow into a separate pen, where it was fed colostrum mixed from a packet.
Despite this being a young cow with good breeding, this will be her last calf. Come next spring, with her calf reared, she’ll be fattened and sent to the factory. Putting her in calf again or selling live is simply not an option.
AI versus AI
As calving is progressing, attention is starting to turn towards breeding and selecting a team of bulls for use through artificial insemination, commonly known as AI in farming circles.
Any farmer knows that AI stands for artificial insemination, but I hear more and more the term AI being used in the non-farming world to describe artificial intelligence.
Selecting artificially intelligent bulls is maybe a step too far, so I’ll stick to selecting naturally intelligent bulls.
The naturally intelligent bull I am looking for produces a calf that pops itself out without assistance, jumps onto its four strong legs, gets a good feed in, sleeps it off and then sets about growing up as fast as it possibly can.
Read more
Listen: suckler and tillage income washing away
More from our Farmer Writes team
The weather here in the northwest the past week has been horrendous.
Heavy showers are leaving ground conditions very poor on even the driest of farms.
To deal with conditions, cattle are being moved onto the next paddock daily.
Failing to move daily results in cattle continuously walking the paddock, as if out for a brisk Sunday jog.
Other than that, they are gathering in a corner for shelter and a chat about the weather, or generally turn what was a lush, green paddock into a mucky concoction of mini water ponds and hoof marks.
There was no grass measuring walk carried out this week, as I may have needed a small rowing boat rather than a plate metre to get around.
Autumn calving and a flighty cow
Calving has passed the halfway point and to date the heifer to bull ratio is running at two to one.
No harm in that, if they are all healthy and thriving I’m happy. Calves were dehorned recently and received a drench dose for the prevention of coccidiosis, a blood scour that leaves a lasting effect on calves.
The only major issue I had during calving so far was a cow that got very aggressive after calving.
Not only would she not let anybody near her or the calf, she was reluctant to let the calf suck for the first day. Eventually, I managed to get the calf away from the cow into a separate pen, where it was fed colostrum mixed from a packet.
Despite this being a young cow with good breeding, this will be her last calf. Come next spring, with her calf reared, she’ll be fattened and sent to the factory. Putting her in calf again or selling live is simply not an option.
AI versus AI
As calving is progressing, attention is starting to turn towards breeding and selecting a team of bulls for use through artificial insemination, commonly known as AI in farming circles.
Any farmer knows that AI stands for artificial insemination, but I hear more and more the term AI being used in the non-farming world to describe artificial intelligence.
Selecting artificially intelligent bulls is maybe a step too far, so I’ll stick to selecting naturally intelligent bulls.
The naturally intelligent bull I am looking for produces a calf that pops itself out without assistance, jumps onto its four strong legs, gets a good feed in, sleeps it off and then sets about growing up as fast as it possibly can.
Read more
Listen: suckler and tillage income washing away
More from our Farmer Writes team
SHARING OPTIONS