At present we’re weaning our penultimate group of calves. Shed space is becoming a limiting factor and our 20-month beef heifers still have a couple of weeks to go before they’re slaughtered.

When they vacate their pen it’ll free up some room to wean and house more calves. There is one group of cows and calves still out but luckily the grass is there for them. Paddock size has been increased to prevent poaching underfoot as the weather turns. It may not be in keeping with the 60:40 rule or the “in at ten (cm) out at four” guideline, but common sense must prevail.

Weaning strategy

It shines light on possible flaws with our weaning strategy. In a bad year, trying to run a 20-month heifer system successfully (incorporating indoor finishing) whilst weaning calves indoors might leave a farmer with egg on his face. On our scale it requires having one or more groups of animals at grass until the dying embers of November; a risky strategy.

But, our weaning method has kept respiratory illness at bay until now at least. So we’re doing something right. I won’t be rushing to buy creep feeders just yet. Half a dozen of the “topshelf” pneumonia treatments (Metacam & Zuprevo) will buy a ton and a half of meal.

The beef heifers had their meal stepped up again last week, for the last time. Currently their diet consists of first cut silage to appetite and 5.5kg of concentrate split into two feeds. I’m happy with their progress and predicting deadweights just shy of 350kg, though time will tell.

Coughing

Last week whilst out herding the bulls that are currently being weaned, we noticed quite a bit of coughing. It’d been 60 days since their last dose so one was well overdue. The night previous had been a clammy one which wasn’t helping things. They were brought in and dosed that afternoon. The first two animals up the chute received the remains of a bottle of pour on (ivermectin). The rest were given a drug with the same active ingredient under the skin. It’ll be interesting to see how the treatment fares out.