Pneumonia: I have heard of a number of pneumonia outbreaks in sheds in the last few days, especially in creep areas with young calves. Just because you have calves vaccinated doesn’t mean they won’t get sick so daily herding is very important to make sure you identify illness in time. Ears down and discharge from eyes and the nose are signs of sickness.

Calf temperature shouldn’t be over 39.5°C. Make sure the thermometer hits the rectal wall when taking the temperature. A calf can get stressed if too hot or too cold, if it is away from its mother, or is subject to draughts or wet lying conditions. These can all be predisposing factors to pneumonia.

If you do pick up a sick calf, be on high alert for more sick calves. Talk to your vet about the management, dosing, vaccination and ventilation issues on your farm and put a programme in place to try to avoid any issues for the rest of the winter months.

Grazing kale: It has been pretty good weather for grazing kale crops over the past few weeks. Farmers are reporting excellent utilisation with good ground conditions.

Take note of how fast you are proceeding through the crop. It needs to be finished being grazed by 17 March 2020 (before flowering) so increase the stocking rate if you won’t hit this target.

Don’t forget to feed a fibre source (baled silage or straw) when grazing kale and make sure animals receive adequate minerals as it is deficient in trace elements. Many will bolus animals before starting to graze kale.

Take care if there is frost or snow on the crop and make sure to not move the fence until the crop has thawed in the afternoon. Under cross-compliance, animals need access to a dry lieback area of the kale. Be careful where a tractor is going in and out of a field with bales as if the soil becomes liquefied it could attract a penalty during a cross-compliance inspection.

Some farmers who were having problems with fences and animals knocking posts over have changed to posts that carry current to the ground and are finding these work better. Make sure there is a good current in the fence, maybe switch off other areas to leave more shock going to the brassica crop.

Mart demo: The last in our series of beef and sheep mart demos takes place tonight, Thursday 5 December, at 7pm in Carndonagh Mart in association with FBD Insurance.

The livestock team will cover all aspects of winter management including feeding cattle for growth, dosing plans for cattle and sheep, tips on farmer schemes and programmes, and making sure drystock farmers maximise their payments.

A livestock demo will also take place and the Irish Farmers Journal in association with Croí are providing free health checks for farmers in the mart from 5pm-7pm. These include blood pressure checks, pulse checks, individual health plans and identifying high-risk individuals.

Attendance is free and everybody is welcome. Raffle and prizes on the night.