This is a subscriber-only article
Details of the refreshed Glanbia Seasonality Scheme were revealed this week and milk supply in the last two weeks of January gets an early season bonus. This will reignite the debate around the date for start of calving.
In spring-calving herds, to be calving in early January in order to supply some milk in the last two weeks of January is too early, irrespective of bonus, etc. Start of calving late January early February on good fertile herds with dry soils is perfectly adequate and a nice balance for commercial labour and feed demands which drive profit.
The national mean calving date is still early March and nationally we must push it back towards mid-February in the south and maybe aim for 25 February in northern areas. In spring-calving herds, delayed calving will result in a huge loss of production (50 to 70kg of milk solids per cow) if cows are dried off in December. The aim must be to calve 70% of cows in February, with calving start date of late January/early February on dry farms.
For many farmers, the bulling heifers are the solution if there is a problem because you can arrange their calving date the first year. Leave them late and they are in danger of slipping out the back end too early in life. Remember, calving date slips four to six days per year, so an animal that calves on 1 March in one year will calve 5 March the next year, and so on.
SHARING OPTIONS: