Soil testing: At Tuesday’s Teagasc beef conference, correcting soil fertility was seen as one of the first steps in growing more grass on beef farms which when utilised lowers production costs and increases margins. You can’t improve if you don’t know the baseline and the fields to target.

Only 10% of soil samples submitted to Irish labs have optimum fertility so that means 90% are sub-optimum. To maximise the productivity of your soils it is essential that optimum soil fertility is maintained and correct levels of lime, P and K are applied based on soil results. Correct PH is essential in ensuring all nutrients are taken up and used efficiently.

Soil samples should be taken on every 5-10ha depending on field management. FYM or fertiliser should not have been applied to the soil sample area 3 months before soil sampling so December and January are the ideal months for completing this job. Samples should contain a representative sample of the field so walk in a zig zag motion across the field avoiding poached areas or cow dung areas.

There are many companies providing this service and some discussion groups have secured deals for a high number of samples. The cost ranges from €14-20 and is relatively small based on the potential gains from correcting soil fertility issues. Analysing slurry can also be a useful exercise ahead of planning fertiliser for silage fields next spring.

Scour vaccination: With spring calving just around the corner some planning can sometimes make things easier around calving. Calf scour can cause a lot of stress to both farmer and animals at calving. Where there has been a history of calf scour on the farm, it may be worth considering using a scour vaccine. Cost should be taken into account, as these vaccines can often cost close to €10 per dose but in the face of a bad outbreak and losing calves it could be seen as money well spent to avoid these issues. Vaccines (usually one dose) should be given to the cow or heifer from 12 to three weeks prior to calving. It is important to follow the administration guidelines accurately. Vaccinating the cow prior to calving will allow her to produce antibodies against the main scour-causing bacteria and viruses. As these antibodies do not pass from the cow to the calf prior to birth, the vaccine will be wasted if the calf does not get colostrum from its mother after birth.

Ideally, the calf should get about three litres of colostrum within 2 hours of birth. As the effectiveness of the vaccine will depend on the passive transfer of antibodies from the mother, the calf should remain on the mother’s milk for at least 10 to 21 days for full effectiveness of the vaccine. Where calves are bought in, management and cleanliness may be more effective at reducing the prevalence of scour. Unfortunately there is no vaccine available for cryptosporidium and clean calving pens and adequate colostrum are absolutely essential for preventing this disease taking over at calving time. Feeding .5kg/head/day of soya bean meal 4-6 weeks out from calving will help to boost colostrum quality and quantity in suckler cows.