The winter routine is now well and truly established. With the recent wet weather, most stock are now indoors; those remaining out are scattered around with plenty of scope. Hopefully they won’t be doing too much damage as we are pushed for room and are in the process of building a new shed.

All silos are now opened, with the high group receiving a mix of first cut, second cut and maize. The total mixed ration smells like a really appetising mix and intakes are excellent (61kg fresh weight). Maize seems to be working really well in the diet. It is living up to expectations and has tested well – starch 29.5%, dry matter 29%, d-value 71.2 and ME 11.3.

Fresh cows are coming to their milk quickly, dung consistency is good and heifers are calving and holding on to body condition. Some heifers are peaking at 40 litres and still coming into heat soon after calving with good strong heats.

Overall production is excellent. At 151 days in milk, average yield per cow is 33.2 litres, 4.09% butterfat 3.38% protein (2.48kg solids/cow), with the latest cell count test being 74. The feed rate is 0.36kg/litre. At a time like this, with no sign of a base price rise, higher milk solids are literally worth their weight in gold.

Fertility

With good body condition and strong heats, hopefully this will mean that cows get back into calf relatively quickly. Breeding started on 10 November. Any cow calved 35 days is served.

Even though conception rates at this early stage are low, I think for every cow that goes in calf now there will always be plenty that go the other way. I take the view that a cow on heat and not served is a missed opportunity. After all, when you put the bull in, he doesn’t ask a cow how long she is calved before serving her.

Our fertility records year on year consistently show that conception rates improve up until around day 65 to 70 after calving. After this, they fall away rapidly and don’t improve again until around day 120.

This shows the importance of not only keeping some form of fertility records, but analysing them and acting on that analysis. For me, the lesson is to get in early and get them served. The bulls being used this year include Laurelhill Classic, Jeeves, Massey and Glenton, along with a small selection of genomic, polled, red and white bulls.

Calves

The changeable weather of the past few weeks has made calves harder to rear, with pneumonia being a bit of a problem. Fortunately, all cases have been relatively easy to treat so far.

Resflor seems to work very well, with one injection usually enough to do the trick. This year, instead of taking a sick calf to a sick pen under a heated light, we have used coats. I think it has worked as calves tend to feed better when they are with the rest of the group. It also cuts down on labour, which is always a bonus.

Markets

Hopefully dairy markets will soon start to improve. It’s not just dairy farmers who are affected by a low milk price. The whole industry is affected and we are all in this together.

I think the Ulster Farmers’ Union needs to be commended for the work it is doing in the background to make banks and suppliers aware of the true cost of production relative to current milk price.