Although it is still July, the programme farmers will now be planning ahead to manage cattle during late summer and autumn.

This includes starting to build grass covers during August, as growth rates begin to tail off. By banking grass, this will keep cattle grazing into late October, as ground conditions allow.

Other tasks include preparing to wean spring-born calves by vaccinating young stock against respiratory diseases.

Planning

There is no substitute for good planning. Over the course of the programme, the farmers who plan out management tasks have generally encountered fewer problems during key periods such as weaning and housing.

Outlined is a series of management tasks that the programme farmers will look to carry out over the coming weeks, setting the tone for the autumn period.

1 Grazing management

Grazing rotations in July should be maintained at around 18 to 21 days. But as grass growth tails off during August and into September, the rotation needs to be extended to meet grazing demand.

Ideally, rotation length should increase by one day per week during August, to give around 25 days ahead of stock by the end of the month.

Depending on ground conditions, extend the rotation to around 30 days by the end of September.

Harvesting of second-cut silage is under way and should be completed across all farms by the end of July. As silage ground comes back into the grazing platform, this allows grass covers to start building in August.

2 Fertiliser application

Slurry should be targeted to silage aftermaths at the earliest opportunity, taking the pressure off storage tanks in the event of early housing.

While nitrogen content in slurry applied in late summer is low, P and K levels will be similar to spring applications.

Allow up to 20 days before grazing fields after slurry is applied. As slurry can be high in potash, and regrowth on silage fields will be lush grass, the risk of tetany is greatly increased.

Therefore, make sure freshly calved autumn cows and spring cows are well covered for magnesium, using lick buckets, a mineral bolus or concentrate.

Where silage has been removed from grazing paddocks, spread a compound NPK fertiliser to replace the P and K offtake in grass harvested. Straight nitrogen, ideally with added sulphur, will suffice over the remainder of the year.

3 Parasite control and respiratory vaccines

As spring-born calves spend more time grazing, the risk of ingesting gut and lung worms is increased.

Therefore, keeping on top of worm control will maintain high levels of weight gain, especially once creep feed is introduced to calves.

Where respiratory vaccines require a two-shot programme, timing the first shot along with a worm dose by early August means the booster can be applied four weeks later in early September.

This leaves plenty of time for calves to develop an immune response in advance of weaning, when respiratory problems become a bigger issue.

4 Weighing cattle

Weighing cattle in July is recommended to monitor cattle performance from turnout, and from mid-summer until housing. It also highlights the cows with good milk production, from which replacement heifers can be retained.

Where cattle will be housed for winter finishing, weighing in July will determine if these animals are on track to hit target housing weight.

By identifying animals below target early, action can be taken to address any underlying health issues affecting performance.

Concentrate feed can be introduced early, if necessary, to get animals back on track and hit target housing weights on time.

5 Splitting bull and heifer calves for creep-feeding

Once breeding for spring-calving cows finishes in early August, cows and their progeny are usually split into groups based on whether they are bull calves or heifers.

This way, spring-born bull calves destined for slaughter next May and June get priority grazing over the remainder of the season.

Creep feed can be targeted to bull calves. This boosts liveweight gain, as grass quality and the cow’s milk production declines during late summer and helps get calves to target housing weights of 300kg to 350kg.

Heifers can be offered creep feed much closer to weaning, which is a much more cost-effective use of purchased concentrate.

6 Fodder budget

Once second-cut silage is harvested, the farmers normally complete a fodder budget immediately after, to determine how much forage is in place for the winter housing period.

With first-cut crops having lower yields this year, completing a fodder budget in late July identifies if a deficit still exists.

This gives the farmers time to close up ground for a small third cut, or take out more bales from the grazing platform.

7 Early scanning and offloading cull cows

Early scanning in September means barren cows can be separated out from the main herd. Concentrate feed is then introduced to barren cows, plus their calves.

This prepares calves for early weaning and maintains body condition on cows.

Once calves are eating 2kg/day of concentrate, they should be weaned. Cows in good condition can be sold at the earliest opportunity, maximising sale value before the flush of cull cows come on to the market from late October.

This also eases grazing during autumn. Where barren cows are thin, they can be housed and intensively finished over 30 to 40 days.

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