Bloat: This is a high-risk time for bloat, with high covers of lush grass/clover pastures being grazed. There are no real warning signs – an affected animal will either be bloated or not and you’ll be lucky to find one still alive. Certain things increase the risk, such as moving hungry cows into a new paddock for 24 or 36 hours of grazing. What can happen in this case is that the cows will gorge themselves on all the nice leafy grass and clover leaves. These then produce a frothy layer in the rumen which prevents rumen gasses from escaping and thus the cow gets bloated and starts to suffocate.

Some farms and some cows are more prone to bloat than others. Controlling bloat involves doing one of two things. Some introduce a bloat prevention liquid into the water such as bloat oil. This is expensive if it is being done every day, but it can be effective. Other farmers just manage the situation based on risk. Hungry cows grazing lush pastures on dull, damp mornings are the highest risk. Giving cows a 12-hour break will help to increase the amount of fibre in the rumen and reduce the risk of bloat. This is the method of bloat prevention being successfully carried out by Fergal Coughlan in the Teagasc clover farm at Clonakilty.

Lameness: Another issue that is going to crop up over the next few weeks is lameness. Hoof soles are naturally thinner at this time of year because cows have been walking on them all summer. Roadways are going to get wet over the next few weeks so cows will be walking on wet grass and on wet roads meaning the soles will soften. Plus, cows will be walking further distances in the autumn – a recipe for trouble.

I see some really poor farm roadways on my travels. A good test of a farm roadway for cows is to be able to comfortably walk barefoot on it and with your eyes closed. Choice of stone is critical – too many roadways have sharp stones which penetrate the sole and cause drops and ulcers. The vast majority of lameness in Ireland is injury-related, most of which can be prevented.

Some farmers will run cows through copper sulphate or formalin footbaths in the runup to autumn. The thinking here is that these solutions harden the hoof, although actual scientific evidence of this is hard to come by. In my view, removing the causes of injury will be more beneficial than just hoof bathing on its own. However, in the case of bacterial infections like mortellaro or foul, hoof bathing to disinfect the claw is an important control mechanism.

Grazing: There are only six or eight weeks left in the grazing season, depending on soil type and stocking rate. On most farms, it’s time enough to be closing paddocks in the first week of October. You need to be planning now where you want to be for that week. The first closed paddocks will have the highest covers next spring. I would think these should be grazed in the first two weeks of March when 70 to 80% of cows are calved. In an ideal world these wouldn’t be too close to the parlour, be dry and not have too much clover which could be lost over the winter.