Breeding: For suckler herds calving in August and September, breeding is getting into full swing. Keeping things regular and consistent is important around breeding. Big changes to the diet or conditions will have a negative impact. Try to feed autumn-calving cows some of the best-quality silage you have on the farm. If silage quality is poor, you will need to feed 2-3kg of ration to maintain body condition. Poor body condition will delay resumption to cycling and could also result in poor conception rates.

Make sure you are up to date with vaccinations and doses for fluke and worms. An outbreak of disease will also affect conception rates. This also goes for bought-in stock, so make sure they receive the full course of any vaccination programme to get the full cover. If using a stock bull, keep an eye to make sure he is mounting cows correctly and make a note of cows he has served to watch for repeats in three weeks’ time.

Heat detection is important and bulls won’t rise as much on slats compared to outdoors or if housed on straw. If using AI, a vasectomised bull is a useful way of detecting heats. Tail paint can also be applied and topped up when cows are indoors. Twice-a-day sucking will help bring cows into heat quicker and this can also be easily done by shutting a creep gate when cows are indoors. Be very careful if heat-checking indoors as cows can slip and fall on slats. Vasectomised bulls should be treated with caution, like any other bull.

Renting sheds: I’ve had a few queries as to how the fee is calculated when renting sheds and whether there are any restrictions from an animal health point of view. The Department of Agriculture must be notified of the animal movement and the movement must be recorded on the Department’s animal movements database. This is important because if the shed owner gets a cross-compliance inspection and the animals can’t be accounted for, it could lead to a penalty. Equally, if the animals aren’t on the owner’s farm and on the herd profile, it could also lead to penalties.

There are multiple ways of calculating the cost of renting a shed. This will depend on whether silage is being fed, who feeds the cattle, and whether slurry is being spread by shed owner or cattle owner. One of the most important aspects of any arrangement is that the points in the agreement should be written down to avoid any confusion. This should include all the above – water charges, ESB bill, shed maintenance etc.

The price can be calculated on a per-head, per-day basis or on a per-pen basis. Slurry can be a big charge in a big shed but some farmers may like to put a value on the slurry going back on to their own land. If purchasing silage, better-quality silage will obviously have a higher value as less meals will have to be fed in that scenario. If the shed owner is feeding, having a good stockperson able to spot sick animals is worth a lot.