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 their immunity and bring on disease. Avoiding other 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. Some farms pull out five to 10 cows at a time and because calves still see cows in the field, sometimes they don’t notice their mothers gone. Once weaned, cows should be dried off by either housing or 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 onto their new diet and will go some way to avoiding a dip in growth rate. Remember to be compliant with the Beef Welfare Scheme you need to feed ration for four weeks pre-weaning and two weeks post-weaning. I was on a farm last week in Roscommon where nose paddles were used to wean calves and the farmer was very happy with the process, saying he could leave weanlings with cows and wean them at the same time.
SCEP heifers: The next big deadline for the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) is 31 October 2025. The next ICBF evaluation is set to take place next Tuesday 23 September. It’s this evaluation that will be used to determine whether you have enough four- and five-star animals in your herd on 31 October, to meet the scheme target. SCEP participants need to have 65% genotyped four- and five-star heifers on the replacement index.
If you have a surplus of genotyped four- and five-star females currently in your herd after the next evaluation, some marts are planning a few special sales of four- and five-star heifers. Herds that are short of their requirement will have to purchase genotyped four- and five-star females before 31 October. If you fail to meet the 2025 target of 65%, you will receive a fine of 26% on your 2025 scheme payment.
Tullamore Farm, the Irish Farmers Journal beef and sheep demonstration farm, has announced that this year’s annual in-calf heifer sale will take place on Wednesday 29 October at 8pm. The sale will include up to 20 spring 2024-born, in-calf heifers, all genotyped four- and five-star on the replacement index and in-calf to high-index, easy-calving bulls. Further details on the sale of heifers will be profiled in the paper in the coming weeks.
Beef Welfare Scheme: Applications for the Beef Welfare Scheme close on Wednesday 24 September. There are currently around 15,000 applications in for this year’s scheme. It’s a no-brainer for suckler farmers to join the scheme, with €75/calf available up to a maximum of 45 calves, so a possible maximum payment of €3,375. The new additional actions for this year’s scheme are €25/calf for faecal sampling or taking three silage samples. Applications must be completed on agfood.ie.
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 their immunity and bring on disease. Avoiding other 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. Some farms pull out five to 10 cows at a time and because calves still see cows in the field, sometimes they don’t notice their mothers gone. Once weaned, cows should be dried off by either housing or 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 onto their new diet and will go some way to avoiding a dip in growth rate. Remember to be compliant with the Beef Welfare Scheme you need to feed ration for four weeks pre-weaning and two weeks post-weaning. I was on a farm last week in Roscommon where nose paddles were used to wean calves and the farmer was very happy with the process, saying he could leave weanlings with cows and wean them at the same time.
SCEP heifers: The next big deadline for the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) is 31 October 2025. The next ICBF evaluation is set to take place next Tuesday 23 September. It’s this evaluation that will be used to determine whether you have enough four- and five-star animals in your herd on 31 October, to meet the scheme target. SCEP participants need to have 65% genotyped four- and five-star heifers on the replacement index.
If you have a surplus of genotyped four- and five-star females currently in your herd after the next evaluation, some marts are planning a few special sales of four- and five-star heifers. Herds that are short of their requirement will have to purchase genotyped four- and five-star females before 31 October. If you fail to meet the 2025 target of 65%, you will receive a fine of 26% on your 2025 scheme payment.
Tullamore Farm, the Irish Farmers Journal beef and sheep demonstration farm, has announced that this year’s annual in-calf heifer sale will take place on Wednesday 29 October at 8pm. The sale will include up to 20 spring 2024-born, in-calf heifers, all genotyped four- and five-star on the replacement index and in-calf to high-index, easy-calving bulls. Further details on the sale of heifers will be profiled in the paper in the coming weeks.
Beef Welfare Scheme: Applications for the Beef Welfare Scheme close on Wednesday 24 September. There are currently around 15,000 applications in for this year’s scheme. It’s a no-brainer for suckler farmers to join the scheme, with €75/calf available up to a maximum of 45 calves, so a possible maximum payment of €3,375. The new additional actions for this year’s scheme are €25/calf for faecal sampling or taking three silage samples. Applications must be completed on agfood.ie.
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