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In wetter areas, cattle that are destined for finishing should be housed. I was speaking to a few farmers who have housed cattle in the last few weeks and they are very happy with the performance since housing.
Feeding animals around troughs in fields gets tricky at this time of year and generally animals will hang around the troughs waiting for meal, leading to decreased intakes and below-target performance.
Try to house on a dry day and leave dosing for a few days until cattle have settled indoors.
While it’s been a relatively dry summer, you should still take faecal samples two months post-housing to determine presence of adult liver fluke. If dosing, keep an eye on withdrawal dates and record all dates in your Bord Bia Quality Assurance handbook.
Clipping backs and tails will leave cattle a little easier to keep clean and will help to reduce sweating in sheds. A good cereal-based three-way mix will suffice with finishing cattle. If feeding rates go over 5kg/head/day, split across two feeds morning and evening.
Housing is a good time to assess spring-calving suckler cows for body condition. Spring-calving cows should be housed at BCS 3 and calve at a target of 2.5.
The two main areas for assessing are at the tail head and around the short rib area. Getting this wrong can lead to calving problems and delayed heats.
Mid-pregnancy is the time cow condition should be altered, not the last six to eight weeks of the gestation period. Adequate cow nutrition becomes increasingly important in the last six to eight weeks of gestation, with the growing calf’s demands increasing daily. Therefore, she needs to eat more silage, not have it restricted.
There are only two weeks left until the deadline for BEEP weighing
If dry matter energy is restricted at this point in the gestation period, there is a risk of metabolic disorders after calving and cows will be slow to come back into heat. Therefore, BCS should be altered over the next two months if spring-calving cows need to lose, or gain, condition before calving.
Pay particular attention to first-calved heifers who may need some extra TLC after weaning. Try to separate them into a pen of their own to avoid any bullying.
There are only two weeks left until the deadline for BEEP weighing. All weighing must be completed by Thursday 31 October.
All suckler calves (beef sire by beef dam) born from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019 and their dams are eligible for the scheme. Calves must be weighed before they are weaned.
The deadline for submitting weights to ICBF is 1 November 2019. Weights must be submitted to the ICBF database within seven days of the animals being weighed on farm.
Once all weights have been submitted, payment should issue in December. The payment rate is €40/calf. If farmers have any issues uploading weights, contact ICBF on 023-883 2883 or login to www.icbf.com.
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