Warts and all, the calves at weaning averaged 299kg off grass with bulls at 315kg and heifers at 282kg.

While I like to judge them on average performance, I was reminded recently that if your head was in the fridge and your backside in the fire your body temperature would still be average and the weight range of calves is similar. Nonetheless, it gives a good guideline. The average cow weight was 647kg; it would probably have been higher but rumen fluke went through one bunch in late August. This means the amount of calf weaned to cow liveweight is 46%. Dividing actual kg of calf weaned into total weight of the cows gives a weaning percentage of 48%. The difference is because of an orphaned calf and two sets of twins leaving one cow less and three calves extra.

The next week or two should see the last of the cull cows and heifers going. The kill sheet from these provides important information for the breeding direction of the herd. The fat score is what I focus on.

Similar to last year, the first batch of cows to go got minimal meal feeding, their fat scores show their performance from grass and show the potential in both grass feeding and also the performance of their progeny at finishing. Only one of the young bulls sold this year had a fat score under three. He was from a cow family that struggles to hit that fat score.

We have found a line in that family that puts on more condition so the focus will be on fixing that as docility, fertility and growth rate are all good traits in that line.

The settled weather led to delaying the completion of weaning, with heifers on mature cows coming in last weekend. They’re the group with the least pressure; all they must do is be in heat next April. While the winds would cut through you, the clear blue sky and dry conditions allowed me the time to just stop, take in my surroundings and enjoy them. Magic days. Days when you forget about the rainy days. There’s no harm in enjoying farming, we don’t do it often enough. While doing this I sit down in the field and leave the heifer calves approach. They’re an inquisitive bunch. Once the calves are split, I spend a bit more time in the field with the cows with heifer calves than the bulls. It’s a long-term investment. It actually forms part of the replacement strategy. You get a good idea of what an animal’s temperament is like by just standing there.

Behaviour

Replacement selection gets serious now. Pressure comes on the cows to perform, not from me but from their heifer calves. Every heifer calf born is a contender to stay here long term as a cow. It’s her behaviour and to a lesser extent performance that will determine whether she makes it as a cow or not. With all the heifers together now, I find it easier to pick those I wouldn’t breed from rather than those I would. Any one I deem not good enough to breed from will be finished. If they’re not good enough to be retained here, they have no place in any other herd as cows. They look like mini-cows at the moment and won’t look in similar condition again for two or three years as they grow while rearing calves and paying their way. I don’t get paid on how they look anyway, I get paid on how they perform.