Autumn calving has kicked off on some farms while others start a little later. Management of cow condition for autumn calvers can sometimes be difficult. The Duffuses at Tomintoul put their autumn herd to hill ground once they were weaned. This reduced the grazing pressure on the in-bye land and helped control the cows from going over fat. At Cranna, the Duguids placed the fittest autumn calving cows on to winter barley stubbles and have been feeding them straw to manage condition on the run up to calving in early October.
Grass supply on most of the farms is good, with those that went with a late application of nitrogen during late August and early September at a rate of 35kg/ha getting a very good response. This was a change in policy for most farms as they would not usually apply nitrogen so late in the year on grassland. Where this has been done it really has set up the farms to carry stock into mid to late October depending on ground conditions.
A number of focus farms are now creep-grazing calves ahead of the cows. This has a number of benefits, including:
Breaking the cow-calf bond which will ease stress at weaning.Giving the best grazing to the calves ensures we maximise calf growth rate.This in turn reduces the reliance of the calf on the cow allowing her to maintain and increase body condition into the back end which can be utilised during the winter period to reduce feed costs. While there is plenty of grass on farm, with the wet conditions the decision has been made on most farms to introduce concentrate feeding to finishing lambs. Grass dry matter will be quite low during prolonged wet spells, ranging from 12 – 15%. Even grazing lush green grass at that dry matter, lambs will be unable to take in a sufficient quantity to meet growth requirements. Getting lambs out of the system at this time of the year is critically important to make sure there is sufficient grass supply on farm for a successful tupping season to maximise next year’s lamb crop.
Winter diets and bedding were also discussed with each of the farm managers. Silage analysis is being carried out on farms over the next few weeks and from that a diet plan will be completed. Silage quality should be increased on the majority of farms this winter with the matter being a key focus on a number of farms this year.
Autumn calving has kicked off on some farms while others start a little later. Management of cow condition for autumn calvers can sometimes be difficult. The Duffuses at Tomintoul put their autumn herd to hill ground once they were weaned. This reduced the grazing pressure on the in-bye land and helped control the cows from going over fat. At Cranna, the Duguids placed the fittest autumn calving cows on to winter barley stubbles and have been feeding them straw to manage condition on the run up to calving in early October.
Grass supply on most of the farms is good, with those that went with a late application of nitrogen during late August and early September at a rate of 35kg/ha getting a very good response. This was a change in policy for most farms as they would not usually apply nitrogen so late in the year on grassland. Where this has been done it really has set up the farms to carry stock into mid to late October depending on ground conditions.
A number of focus farms are now creep-grazing calves ahead of the cows. This has a number of benefits, including:
Breaking the cow-calf bond which will ease stress at weaning.Giving the best grazing to the calves ensures we maximise calf growth rate.This in turn reduces the reliance of the calf on the cow allowing her to maintain and increase body condition into the back end which can be utilised during the winter period to reduce feed costs. While there is plenty of grass on farm, with the wet conditions the decision has been made on most farms to introduce concentrate feeding to finishing lambs. Grass dry matter will be quite low during prolonged wet spells, ranging from 12 – 15%. Even grazing lush green grass at that dry matter, lambs will be unable to take in a sufficient quantity to meet growth requirements. Getting lambs out of the system at this time of the year is critically important to make sure there is sufficient grass supply on farm for a successful tupping season to maximise next year’s lamb crop.
Winter diets and bedding were also discussed with each of the farm managers. Silage analysis is being carried out on farms over the next few weeks and from that a diet plan will be completed. Silage quality should be increased on the majority of farms this winter with the matter being a key focus on a number of farms this year.
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