BPS application: With recent good weather and lots of field work being completed, office work can lag behind. Make sure to get your BPS application submitted online before by the closing date of 15 May.

I had a few calls from elderly farmers who have got it completed at the Department of Agriculture help desks in local offices for the last few years. With none of these taking place this year, some have been caught out.

The advice is to contact an agricultural consultant or a Teagasc adviser straight away and get an application in. Even if you are unsure of what land you have, the key thing is to get the application in and make amendments later.

Friday 15 May is also the closing date for the BEEP-S scheme. All suckler farmers should be applying for this. Applications must also be submitted online for BEEP-S.

Purchased animals: If you are purchasing animals and you suspect them to have a heavy worm burden, avoid using an ivermectin-based product straight away.

Ivermectin-based products can lead to a very fast kill and the stress of coughing up dead worms can lead to pneumonia issues. White drenches and levamisole-type drenches have a much slower kill rate and will be easier on the animal. However, these products do not have the same residual cover as ivermectin-based products.

A simple dosing programme would be to dose on arrival with a white drench/levamisole drench and then dose with an ivermectin-based product two weeks later. This should provide cover for four to six weeks. Taking faecal samples is a cheap way of determining whether you need to dose or not. Talk to your vet about getting them analysed.

Pneumonia: I have heard of increased incidences of pneumonia around the country this week. While some will say it’s a change in the weather, this isn’t likely to cause an outbreak on its own. There is likely something else going on in the background or management has changed in some way.

Stress is the big factor in many pneumonia outbreaks. Once the animal gets stressed, its immunity drops. You can boost immunity through the use of vaccinations. It’s important they are given well in advance of a challenge like weaning to give maximum protection. You can also reduce stress through the way you manage the calves. Forward creep grazing and feeding meal to autumn born calves now in advance of weaning will aid in the weaning process.

Grass: Many farmers will need to take out paddocks as bales to avoid grazing grass too strong in the next week or so. This leafy silage will be very high quality and is ideal for feeding to weanlings or freshly calved cows next spring. Try and store these “paddock” bales so you can use them at any time rather than store them at the back of the bale storage area where they won’t be used until next spring. These mown paddocks will be ready to graze again in 14-21 days on most farms.