Grass supply

Grass growth has dropped off considerably in parts of the country that haven’t received rain and with no major rainfall forecast, soil moisture deficits will likely hit growth further in the coming week.

In normal times, if there are such times anymore, strong paddocks need to come out in May to avoid grass getting too stemmy and resulting in poor graze-outs.

The advice now is to take a cautious approach to taking out paddocks. Graze them if you can. Allocating a daily allowance via a strip wire will help utilisation and avoid grass being walked on or wasted. Try and maintain the rotation by slowing up cows as much as you can. If silage has been cut, grazing off headlands will buy you a few days’ grace.

The last thing you want to happen is to be grazing light covers and speeding up the rotation. While some of these paddocks with strong covers will need topping after grazing, avoid topping in the current conditions. Once rain comes, you can get in on the next rotation.

Once grass is green and not yellow (under moisture stress), fertiliser can still be spread. Remember, if paddocks have been taken out in the past two weeks they will benefit from some P and K along with nitrogen. One bale of silage will remove 10 units of N, 1.6 units of P and 10 units of K.

Autumn-calving cows could be weaned at this stage and cows tightened up on a paddock with a round feeder. Meal feeding could also increase to heavy cattle at grass to slow the rotation down.

One of the most important jobs is to walk the farm to see what you have and make decisions on what you see.

Red water

I have heard of cases of redwater over the past week. The risk period is highest during the summer months when the ticks are most active but it can occur anytime, so it’s important to be vigilant for signs of this disease.

Cold, showery conditions mean animals look for shelter in rougher areas of a farm and pick up ticks easily. Bought-in cattle are more prone to redwater because these cattle may not have built up immunity as younger cattle on the farm they have come from.

Ticks are more likely to be present in land with scrub, rushes and gorse as these are ideal habitats for them. Use homebred stock to graze these areas if you can. Herd stock regularly and look out for symptoms like red urine, dullness or no appetite, high temperatures, weakness, anaemia, and animals standing away from the herd.

Veterinary advice should be sought in suspected cases. Animals can be injected with Imizol to prevent and treat redwater. Animals grazing rough areas of the farm should also be treated with an avermectin-based pour-on to help control ticks.

Stock bulls

Keep a close eye on stock bulls and record as many heats and serves as you can to avoid any scanning time surprises. Newly purchased young bulls shouldn’t be going out with more than 15 to 20 cows in the first season. Make sure the bull has received the same vaccinations as cows.