Since the middle of December temperatures have consistently been between 8°C and 14°C. We were hoping for that kind of weather for most of last April.
In the last few weeks I saw daffodils flowering on New Year’s Day, sycamores budding in December and, to top it off, I saw a hedgehog crossing the road the other night. As always, nature will balance this out and there is a long winter ahead yet.
On the plus side, conditions have been ideal for getting slurry out. It’s unusual to go for the more challenging paddocks first. But with ground dry, a decision was made with the contractor to aim for the hillier paddocks and get them out of the way.
There are only a handful of paddocks that don’t have covers I’d consider good enough for early grazing yet. Most of these were grazed last anyway.
The good weather has made the experience of out-wintering one group of cows rather pleasant. They are on a field overlooking the farm and from there, it looks as if the house and yard are on the edge of the cliff. As un-businesslike as it might sound, going up there is an enjoyable part of the day.
However when the weather turns, forage crops are a different kettle of fish; the thought of going out to move fences daily when rain is lashing down and you’re trudging through mud is not that appealing.
It’s funny to watch the different personalities of the cows in this group come through too. The younger ones race up along the fresh feed at each move while the older cows conserve energy a bit more and pour scorn at their herdmates over-eager carry-on.
There’s about a fortnight left of grazing the forage rape. Maybe there will be a chance for some of the later calvers to stay out at grass once that is finished. It would ease demand for both shed space and silage. It could be an option at least and having plenty of these is key. That’s something we’re reminded of every spring.
Given current grass covers and the fact calving is still almost six weeks away, a start has been made with grazing. The stock bulls have had silage removed from their diet and are putting a hole in the spring grazing rotation planner. Weather conditions will determine whether they will be the only stock grazing or not.
The 2018 calving season was probably the most pleasant I had experienced. Workload was the lowest it ever was for that time of year. This happened by accident rather than design.
Ten years ago when we finally had sheds worth talking about at the cow yard, we made a move to calve more from the last week of January. Half the herd would be calved by the first of March and the stragglers would go into April. With fertility issues in bulls this date slipped and, while at first I cursed it, I’m now glad of it.
With fragmented ground, it was never possible to get all calves out early. If weather didn’t go our way, this created hours of work each day. Work that there wasn’t financial reward for.
On paper, calving earlier to match grass growth sounds good but reality can be different. Dad and myself have spoken a lot about why we weren’t doing things like this years ago. Maybe it’s just experience but adversity makes you adapt more. Last year certainly proved that.
Read more
Farmer Writes: beef plan deserves all the support it can get
Farmer Writes: expensive diet leaves cows in good condition
Farmer Writes: profit monitor focuses my mind for 2019
Since the middle of December temperatures have consistently been between 8°C and 14°C. We were hoping for that kind of weather for most of last April.
In the last few weeks I saw daffodils flowering on New Year’s Day, sycamores budding in December and, to top it off, I saw a hedgehog crossing the road the other night. As always, nature will balance this out and there is a long winter ahead yet.
On the plus side, conditions have been ideal for getting slurry out. It’s unusual to go for the more challenging paddocks first. But with ground dry, a decision was made with the contractor to aim for the hillier paddocks and get them out of the way.
There are only a handful of paddocks that don’t have covers I’d consider good enough for early grazing yet. Most of these were grazed last anyway.
The good weather has made the experience of out-wintering one group of cows rather pleasant. They are on a field overlooking the farm and from there, it looks as if the house and yard are on the edge of the cliff. As un-businesslike as it might sound, going up there is an enjoyable part of the day.
However when the weather turns, forage crops are a different kettle of fish; the thought of going out to move fences daily when rain is lashing down and you’re trudging through mud is not that appealing.
It’s funny to watch the different personalities of the cows in this group come through too. The younger ones race up along the fresh feed at each move while the older cows conserve energy a bit more and pour scorn at their herdmates over-eager carry-on.
There’s about a fortnight left of grazing the forage rape. Maybe there will be a chance for some of the later calvers to stay out at grass once that is finished. It would ease demand for both shed space and silage. It could be an option at least and having plenty of these is key. That’s something we’re reminded of every spring.
Given current grass covers and the fact calving is still almost six weeks away, a start has been made with grazing. The stock bulls have had silage removed from their diet and are putting a hole in the spring grazing rotation planner. Weather conditions will determine whether they will be the only stock grazing or not.
The 2018 calving season was probably the most pleasant I had experienced. Workload was the lowest it ever was for that time of year. This happened by accident rather than design.
Ten years ago when we finally had sheds worth talking about at the cow yard, we made a move to calve more from the last week of January. Half the herd would be calved by the first of March and the stragglers would go into April. With fertility issues in bulls this date slipped and, while at first I cursed it, I’m now glad of it.
With fragmented ground, it was never possible to get all calves out early. If weather didn’t go our way, this created hours of work each day. Work that there wasn’t financial reward for.
On paper, calving earlier to match grass growth sounds good but reality can be different. Dad and myself have spoken a lot about why we weren’t doing things like this years ago. Maybe it’s just experience but adversity makes you adapt more. Last year certainly proved that.
Read more
Farmer Writes: beef plan deserves all the support it can get
Farmer Writes: expensive diet leaves cows in good condition
Farmer Writes: profit monitor focuses my mind for 2019
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