If the forecasts are to be believed, Monday will see a significant amount of rainfall across the country – particularly in the south and west, with anywhere up to three inches of rain expected in Cork.

While the days either side of it are promising to be good, housing over the weekend might be the best option on heavy farms that are slow to dry up. Where cattle cannot be housed at this point, a couple of measures must be taken.

House and wean

Calves that are at least six months of age can be weaned, provided they are eating meals (=1kg) and forage. At this point, they are getting over 70% of their nutrient intake from solid feeds anyway. In truth, given the milking ability of the average Irish suckler cow, early weaning will not hit calves all that hard nutritionally.

If housing this weekend, separate cows and calves into adjacent pens. Offer cows straw and calves meals and top-quality silage. Let calves in for a suck (30 mins) on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Ensure that all calves are eating =1kg of meals by Monday. Then, on Friday next, turn out calves and leave cows locked indoors. We want at least two dry, settled days weather-wise post-weaning if calves are going outdoors to minimise stress.

House and creep

For younger calves, or on farms where cows are still well in milk, set up a creep area in sheds so that calves can go back to grass. Most houses will have the facility to do so – it can be as simple as a bar tied across an open pen entrance. Erect creep bars level with the height of your tallest calf. If not already doing so, the creep bar will allow you to offer meals to older calves (five to six months). Where calves cannot get outside, there should be a creep area away from cows on to a clean straw bed.

Beef stock

Beef cattle above 500kg can be housed at this point. Low-feed-value grass and changeable weather will be doing nothing for their thrive. They’re taking in less energy than they would be indoors and then burning it up doing laps of fields in the rain. House and build up gradually to 4-5kg of meals with good-quality silage (>70%DMD).

Stay out

Where cattle have to stay out on wet farms next week, keep field sizes small, but split groups across a number of these smaller paddocks – obviously the drier ones if possible. Taking down reels and letting cattle roam might seem like best practice in wet weather. But in reality it’s counterproductive. Doing this damages the integrity of the regrowth and only serves to slow down grass production. Giving cattle more room will lead to more walking and severe sod damage. The advice is to split groups, keep field areas small and move cattle on quickly (every two to three days). Damage will be done, but only to the surface. After a couple of days it’ll already be recovering.

In short:

  • Poor forecast early next week.
  • On wet farms, house and wean older (= 6 months).
  • Set up a creep area alternatively.
  • House beef stock – thrive poor at this point.
  • Where cattle must stay out – split group up, keeping paddocks small.

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