Beef Management: housing, weaning and grass supplies

Housing preparation: With a change in the weather conditions forecast for next week, it’s likely that housing isn’t that far away on some farms, especially in the west on more marginal land.

It’s important when cattle are housed that ventilation is correct and there is plenty of air movement in the shed, allowing stale air to be removed.

Warm, moist and stale air is a breeding ground for disease.

Signs that the ventilation is not up to scratch are a constant smell of ammonia, too warm a temperature, cobwebs on the timbers or timbers and sheets becoming black with mould.

A ridge opening should run along the full length of a roof apex. Wider sheds require wider openings, as follows:

The size of inlets is equally important to allow fresh air to enter the shed, create a stack effect and push the stale air out. Be careful where sheds have been extended that there is sufficient inlet area for the span of the new shed.

Make sure there is nothing impeding inlet airflow outside the shed like trees or hay/straw stacked up against the inlet area. A simple smoke bomb test can be done to see where air is moving and if it’s getting out fast enough. It’s important to carry out this test when the cattle are indoors to get a true reflection of the ventilation in the shed.

Weaning: With a lot of weaning taking place on farms across the country, it’s important to remember this is a very stressful time on the calf. This stress can lower the calves’ immunity and bring on disease. Avoiding stressors like dosing and castrating around this time will be easier on the calf. Having lungs clear by dosing in advance and having calves vaccinated will help in reducing illness around this time. Some farms pull out five to 10 cows at a time and calves still have cows in the field and sometimes don’t notice their mothers gone. Once weaned, cows should be dried off by either housing or being shut off on dry bare paddocks. Once calves have been weaned, the energy content of the diet needs to be increased, as their intake of low-DM grass won’t be enough to meet energy demand. Feeding ration will allow a smooth transition on to their new diet and go some way to avoiding a big check in growth rate. Remember, to be compliant with the BEEP-S scheme, you must feed ration for four weeks pre-weaning and two weeks after weaning.

Grass supplies: It has been another good week for grass growth. While temperatures have started to fall back, there is still ample grass on farms for the next few weeks, if weather conditions allow for it to be grazed. You cannot underestimate the power of weaning in good weather conditions. If weaning is complete, there is then the opportunity to house cows and continue to graze weanlings at grass for as long as conditions allow. Plan your closing up in line with what paddocks you want to graze first next spring. Stick to the plan and don’t deviate, no matter how much grass is on these paddocks come November.