Off farm we have a series of meetings around the country this week and next about calf welfare, organised by the IFA. At the first meeting in Cavan on Tuesday, Dr Pat Dillon, the head of animal and grassland research and innovation in Moorepark, is reported as saying: “Believe it or not we never considered the outcome of the calves in the system.”

This statement is one of the biggest confidence breakers for Irish dairy farmers for the last 10 years. Plenty of people were asking Teagasc plenty of questions about the quality and quantity of dairy calves and the plan for them, but in my opinion, Teagasc chose to belligerently ignore these concerns. “Calf value is irrelevant”, “the market will find its level” and my favourite “a solution will be found” were the stock responses to farmers’ concerns.

I think Teagasc has been very singular and insular on its thinking on this issue

He went on to claim on Tuesday that the main focus was on increasing cow numbers, increasing milk processing facilities and getting enough land for dairy farmers. Efficient, easy-care cows were obviously also part of the plan but the quality of the calf or cull cow they produced was irrelevant.

We were consistently lectured about this at multiple public meetings and anyone who had the audacity to question this opinion was belittled and ignored.

I think Teagasc has been very singular and insular on its thinking on this issue.

Outside opinion and input on cow breeding was welcome from New Zealand researchers almost exclusively.

Hopefully we are not facing into some sort of calf Armageddon

The beef researchers are now telling us the calves this spring will be worthless at best and a liability in a lot of cases. How much of a negative effect this will have on calf welfare this spring remains to be seen. Hopefully we are not facing into some sort of calf Armageddon.

If we ran our farms this way, would we arrive in February with half the herd calved and the calf shed full?

Winter is starting to take hold in the southeast, with a couple of frosty mornings earlier this week and a return to woolly hats and extra layers for the early starts.

We were moving through grass very quickly for the last two weeks so obviously dry matters were low enough out there

Grass growth has dipped with the lower temperatures so we have opened the maize pit a little bit ahead of schedule to mix with a few bales and start buffer feeding the cows for the rest of the grazing season.

We were moving through grass very quickly for the last two weeks so obviously dry matters were low enough out there. Demand is still high, with most of the herd still milking and rather than dry off cows early to reduce demand we chose to open the maize a week early instead.

Milk production is holding up well considering we haven’t dried off many cows yet. We pulled out a few culls that didn’t go in calf a couple of weeks ago and pulled out some lower-yielding first-calvers, some older cows and a few scanned with twins this week to close out a full row.

Lactose is hanging in around 4.5%, well above the 4.2% threshold for penalties, so we should be OK without drying off anymore for a couple of weeks

Over 90% of the herd is still milking and grazing, compared to about 80% this time last year.

The herd is averaging just under 15l at 5.49% fat and 4.38% protein. Lactose is hanging in around 4.5%, well above the 4.2% threshold for penalties, so we should be OK without drying off anymore for a couple of weeks.

We will be due to start drying off younger cows based on calving dates from the middle of November.

We will have 50% of the grazing platform shut up for the spring by the end of this week so we should have the farm well set up for spring grazing.

We were getting good clean-outs on grazed paddocks with strip wires over the last two weeks despite the wet weather but this will be more challenging now with the silage going into the diet and more rain forecast for this weekend.

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