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We finally got an extension to the main cow shed finished recently. The internal fittings were hardly in 24 hours before stock were in it.
All that remains is a small bit of gate work outside the house to create a walkway to the crush.
It’s a huge relief to have it done but it was a stressful time trying to get it over the line. We were lucky to have an excellent builder but matters outside of his and our control upset the best-laid plans. Digging out the tank was to begin in June 2019 and we planned to have the shed fitted out and ready for use well in advance of last winter.
Unfortunately, the project was initially delayed by admin issues so it wasn’t until late October last year when we finally got a digger on site. With the weather turning bad and as it was an extension on to the feed passage side, for safety reasons a decision was made to wait until the shed was empty. April was pencilled in as the new start date. None of us could have predicted what lay ahead as COVID-19 arrived on the scene.
It wasn’t a priority project so we had to wait until June to recommence. The wait continued until late October due to COVID-19 issues creating a steel backlog. Or so we were told.
That resulted in a busier winter workload than planned last year but the work is now complete. As frustrating as it was, it is nothing compared to what businesses that had to close for COVID-19 had to endure.
BEAM
Having dealt with a delayed building, I’m glad we didn’t partake in the BEAM scheme last year.
The money would have been useful but certainly not worth the extra headaches of trying to work out what stocking levels are required.
The only stock out now are the first group of cows that were weaned. They’ll clean up the fields across the road over the next few weeks.
We used to have all grazing finished by this stage about three years ago. If you had a mild finish to the year, there would be strong covers of grass on fields by New Year’s Day but we noticed two issues. One was having too much grass, reducing the area to spread slurry on and get the best out of the nutrients available. The second issue was if we got strong winds or storms from the sea which resulted in salt burn the volume of grass reduced because of it.
At this time of year they’re not too fussy when it comes to eating and I find them good in paddocks that have been passed over by calves who have a preference for the good stuff.
With fields empty, I got around to doing a bit of diagnostics. Soil, silage and dung, or the three S’s as they might be colloquially referred to on farms, were all sampled and I await results before taking any action.
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