There are some things in life which you just never forget, and one of my fondest memories from a young age is the first time I watched a cow calve.

I was four or five years old and back then, our cattle were housed in a byre; two rows of five cows on each side. It was a crisp, dark night and I can’t recall if I felt more excited about being up so late at night or about watching ‘Brown Cow’ calving from the safety of my mother’s arms. Hearing that motherly whinge from the cow and the flapping of the newborn calf’s ears as he shook his head, has stayed with me to this day.

Calving

Calving remains one of my favourite things to witness on the farm each year, a wobbly calf finding their legs, nose in the air as it looks to nurse. Meanwhile I’m peering out from behind a wall or bush to make sure all is going well, with the occasional muttered curse as the calf totters in every direction but the right one. Yet, after observing so many calvings over the years, it’s easy to become complacent around the dangers of cows at this time, especially when you’re down to the last couple of stragglers calving in June.

Most of our small herd are relatively quiet at calving, so it wasn’t foreseen when one of our late calving cows turned very aggressive.

Thankfully, she gave us a few early warning signs, which allowed us to decide that the quad offered a safer viewpoint to ensure the calf required no help. It was certainly a timely reminder to approach all freshly calved cows with caution, have an escape route, and carry a stick as a deterrent, no matter how quiet a cow can appear.

Approach all freshly calved cows with caution, have an escape route, and carry a stick as a deterrent

Although young, this lady has received her P45, and will be sold as a cull before winter. As we were looking for cows to sell in order to meet our BEAM target for nitrogen reduction, it’s with no great sadness that we’ll see her go. There’s no room on this farm for a wicked cow, no matter how fancy their calves look.

Breeding

On that note, breeding is also going well, with three quarters of the herd already served to AI bulls. We had very few issues at calving and due to that, most cows were in heat within six weeks of calving. All going well, next year we’ll have an early crop of calves for a change.

Recently we were asked if we’d like to participate in a trial of a new weedkiller and receive compensation for the ground used. As it’s not very often that rushes on a farm can generate some extra income, we accepted the offer enthusiastically. With a number of our fields being included in the GLAS scheme as low-input permanent pasture, we had no problem finding a few which were in need of attention. However they were also decidedly messier than the fields we have been allowed to control with topping.

While rush licking is permitted on the LIPP parcels, we’re not allowed to clean them out by mechanical means, which resulted in a lot of stemmy grass. Our late calving cows had been grazing in a small non-LIPP field until they calved, which left a bare field with a growth of young rushes just perfect for an even assessment using different applications and strengths of herbicide. We managed to get it completed just before the weather broke and hopefully we’ll see some results on it before too long.

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