Weather

Tough times don’t last, tough people do. Current weather conditions certainly call for a fair degree of toughness, both physical and mental. Despite February being a great month weather wise, it has been a difficult spring and all farmers are drained after putting in a big effort.

So having to deal with a wet April, on top of a very wet March is not what is needed, but there’s not a lot that can be done about it. It won’t last forever and the forecast for next week is looking a lot better. Ground conditions will change fast at this time of year.

What can farmers do in the here and now? I think the most important thing is to ensure that cows are on the best feed possible in order to limit body condition score loss.

This will probably mean on/off grazing on many farms, but it may also mean that cows have to be housed on silage for periods on other farms. It’s not where you would like to be in mid-April but so be it.

On/off grazing for prolonged periods can be tough on cows, so make sure they have some silage back in the shed during the ‘off’ period and keep meal feeding levels of 4-5kg per cow during this period. Be prepared to cut meal and silage as soon as possible when conditions dry up.

Late calvers

Watch that late calving cows aren’t at risk of getting too fat, particularly those not calving until late April or early May. The fatter they are the more at risk they are of hard calving and then metabolic disorders and rapid weight loss after calving – which will seriously affect their chances of going back in-calf again.

Putting these cows on a restricted diet could be the best thing for them. It might also be worth considering putting them on once a day milking after calving to help limit condition score loss. Another thing to watch is that if these cows were previously vaccinated against rota virus scour, it may be the case that the effect of the vaccine has worn off by now, if it is more than 12 weeks since it was given.

Tail paint

Herds due to start breeding at the end of April should have the cows tail painted now to help identify what cows are not cycling within the first few days of the breeding season.

I wouldn’t encourage farmers to start recording heats just yet – save that effort for when the breeding season starts properly. Instead, just top up the tail paint every five or six days and only paint those cows with paint still on.

Therefore, at the end of the pre-breeding period only cows with paint remaining will need to be investigated.

Farmers who have recently purchased automated heat detection aids will need to continue using tail paint until the computer algorithms build up a picture of a cows’ cycling activity.

In terms of effectiveness, there is no evidence to say that automated heat detection aids are any better than tail paint.

In fact, tail paint works off the primary sign of heat which is mounting behaviour, whereas the electronic devices rely on secondary signs of heat, such as increased activity to determine when a cow is bulling. Remember to tail paint using a 9in by 2in strip on the flat part above the tailhead.