I am now four weeks into the calving period and have just over half the herd calved. Apart from the usual trials and tribulations, things are going reasonably well. The superstitious farmer in me however, doesn’t like saying things like that!

I am still feeding baled silage, although this week will see it finished. Last year I opened my silage pit on the 15 October and had been buying silage for a considerable length of time before this. This year it will nearly be the beginning of December before I open the pit and there is quite a bit of extra silage in it also.

All weanling heifers are still at grass, but grass supplies are more or less depleted at this stage. Ground conditions on some of the paddocks have started to deteriorate, so I would say all stock will be housed by next weekend. These cattle will be clipped, dosed and weighed at housing and I may decide to sell some of the heaviest depending on liveweight.

Up until 10 days ago I was putting the cows back to grass as they calved. This really takes the pressure off for space in the shed and also gives the calf a good healthy start to life. However, a combination of weather, ground conditions and not wanting my average grass cover to go too low for the spring, meant that I had to house them. I had a good run so I cannot complain.

Sheep

After a gap of 12 years, I have started back in to sheep farming in a big way! I have 20 store lambs! I have been threatening to buy a few sheep for a long number of years, but this year I have finally taken the plunge.

I can never see myself going back to lambing sheep. When we were in that business, my father was still alive, fit and able, and at home full time. I’m away from eight in the morning to six in the evening, five and sometimes six days a week. So lambing sheep would not be overly simple, although plenty of part time farmers do it. I’m sure we’ll manage a few store lambs though.

This is really just a bit of an experiment to see how me and sheep agree after being apart for so long. If they start to misbehave, they could end up getting a change of address very quickly! However, if we can manage to agree, I might think about trying to graze a few sheep over the summer as well.

Apparently, you can graze one ewe and two lambs for every cow and calf unit at no extra cost. They are also very beneficial to the grass sward as they help to thicken it and they will eat grass that the cows won’t. Also, the effects of mixed grazing are widely known to have a benefit on worm population.

I will not get ahead of myself just yet. I’ll wait to see if I have to go around tying pallets on to every gate about the place to keep them from going underneath it!

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