For spring-calving herds on programme farms, the aim has been to build up body fat reserves of cows during the grazing period and utilise these reserves during the winter to reduce feed requirements and costs.

Given the excellent grazing conditions experienced into late autumn, this objective was easily achieved during this year. To ensure these reserves are utilised and cows achieve a target condition score of 2.5 to 3.0 at calving, an individual feed plan based on silage qualities and quantities available has been completed.

Restricted

This has resulted in silage intakes being restricted, even where silage qualities have been poorer than had been expected.

However, with a plentiful supply of silage, there is the temptation to feed cows more than required.

While the consequences of calving cows in poor body condition score (less than 2.5) are well documented, with subsequent fertility taking a hit, attention must also be paid to the other extreme (>4.0).

Many cows have the potential to be over-fat at calving next spring, something not widely experienced in recent years.

Over-fat cows at calving will be more prone to calving difficulties and where a lot of this excess fat is mobilised immediately post-calving, it will be more exposed to other health issues.

Without physically removing cows from pens or handling through a cattle crush, over-fat cows can sometimes go unnoticed until it is too late.

Monitor

Programme farms are being encouraged to regularly monitor condition score and adjust feed intakes accordingly.

Any adjustments in body condition need to be complete at least six weeks pre-calving to avoid further health problems before, during and after calving.

Calving is set to commence in early January, so I have spent the past few days getting existing and new calving pens ready.

Cows have now been batched according to predicted calving dates and the earliest calvers have received their Rotavec Corona vaccine. I have used this vaccine over the past number of years and it has helped keep scours under control.

It is expensive, so perhaps later-calving herds may get away without it, particularly where cows are turned out to grass at calving. But for me, with all cows calving and generally remaining indoors, there is more potential for a build-up of disease.

An outbreak of scour would be difficult and expensive to manage, so I see it as a worthwhile investment. Antibodies are passed in the vaccinated cow’s colostrum, which helps reduce the risk of scours in the first two to three weeks until calves develop their own immunity.

Condition

With cows having been housed carrying lots of extra flesh, a recent herd test provided a good opportunity to reassess body condition score. Looking at cows daily through a feed barrier is all well and good, but it is difficult to see significant changes.

Walking them through the yard and handling them in the crush allows for a better assessment. It also helped to have a second opinion – one good thing to come from a TB test. Thankfully, all animals tested clear of TB.

Despite silage having been restricted, some cows have not lost as much condition as I would have expected. Many are in a condition score greater than 3.0. Fortunately, the earlier-calving cows have been bulled to a relatively easy-calving Limousin bull.

One advantage of scanning and batching according to calving date from now on is those later-calving cows can continue to be fed restricted silage well into the new year.

Dry cows have been fed the poorest-quality silage available, which was analysed at 25.9% dry matter, 10.3 ME and 10.0 crude protein (CP), with a D value of 64. Based on this feeding value, to maintain cow’s body condition, I have been able to restrict intakes to 27kg per day at 16 weeks pre-calving. This is gradually being built up to ad lib at the point of calving.

Cows would potentially eat up to 41kg of this silage if fed ad lib. If cows were not batched according to calving dates, it would be difficult to avoid some being over- or under-fed this winter. The restricted feeding also equates to a potential saving of £20 to £30 per cow over a 15-week feeding period.

Sales

Before housing, I sold off some of this year’s spring-born calves in the weanling sales. The first six steers, sold on 14 October, achieved an average liveweight of 352kg in the sale yard and averaged £867 at £2.46/kg.

The second batch of five steers sold on 23 October averaged 348kg and achieved an average price of £892 at £2.56/kg. Two heifers sold on the same date averaged 364kg, achieving £758 at £2.08/kg. The steer calves were built up to 2kg of creep per day in the month before sale. The heifer calves didn’t receive any supplementary feeding.

All calves were vaccinated for pneumonia before weaning. I think this helped the sale of the calves when announced. It has also ensured there were no pneumonia problems this year. This is something which will be done routinely in the future.

Overall, calves performed very well this year. The steer and heifer calves achieved an average liveweight gain of 1.35kg and 1.23kg per day, respectively, from birth to weaning. The extra body condition on the cows this year meant they were heavier at weaning, with an average of 692kg liveweight. They achieved an average weaning percentage of 46% and 44% for the steer and female calves, respectively.

The remaining steer and heifer calves were housed in late October and early November. They had been weaned beforehand at grass.

I have built up a large fodder reserve over the past few years and, with silage not in great demand at the moment, I am feeding this to achieve extra weight on these weanlings over winter before selling next spring.

This seems like a reasonable way of converting this silage into something of value, while also increasing overall output.

It remains to be seen whether all calves should have been sold as weanlings. The factors influencing this will be the weight gain achieved and prices of store cattle next spring.

Steer calves are currently being fed 3kg of a 16% CP blend, while heifer calves are receiving 2kg, with the aim of achieving a weight gain of 0.7kg per day.