The 2018 surprises continue. A photosensitivity case with an animal in the middle of November was unexpected to say the least. To compound the matter, it happened one of the stock bulls. The males of most species don’t make good patients.

I noticed one of them was missing Saturday morning and after a search around the block he was in, I found cracked wires and fresh hoof marks in the ditch. I followed these through a neighbour’s field until I located my bull thrown out flat with his legs stretched out.

I thought he was dead but as I got closer I saw him breathing. I managed to get him to sit up and after a while he got moving. For the next few hours he was very restless, throwing himself out flat and any time he’d manage to get up, he’d be staggering like a drunk. He resembled a dog that was trying to shake off a pair of sunglasses, the way he was throwing his head around.

I was concerned he’d wear himself out. By the time the vet called, he was panned out on the ground again and we were able to inject him in the field. After that treatment, he began to stagger back towards the vet’s jeep and for a moment I envisaged a very expensive call-out fee. The reverse gear was found, denying the bull the chance to damage the vehicle.

I thought he would fall back into a stream or drain, so I wasn’t overly optimistic about his chances of making it through the night. I consoled myself that if he didn’t make it, the fact he was a home-bred bull meant that while there was a cost on him, there was no large price tag on him either. Thankfully, he is recovering well and should be fit in time for breeding season. Photosensitivity is one of the most frustrating ailments to deal with.

With the return of the young cows with heifer calves home, the end of weaning is in sight, with the last few starting the process before the weekend.

Weighing

It also gave a chance to weigh the last of the cows to get a rough handle on their working weights. I’ve done this at weaning for a number of years and this year they averaged 625kg.

The total weight of the calves was 48% of the cow’s weaning body weight. The warts-and-all figures revealed the bulls had an average growth rate of 1.14kg/day with an average weight of 302kg, while the heifers averaged 253kg and gained 1.05kg/day. With the exception of the calves from the cull cows who had access to some meal feeding, this gain was from grass.

The weaning weights are back on other years but the cows are calving a month later than five years ago.

Bale stacks

Recently, I’ve found myself counting the bale stacks once a week to try to keep track of the silage stocks. It’s a habit I started when silage supplies started running low in the spring.

Silage and straw stocks will be carefully managed this winter. After almost a decade of the same winter routine, this season will be a bit different.

Due to price increases in straw, it made more sense to think differently rather than buy more. Since the cow shed was built in 2008, it has been straw-bedded. Rubber mats were installed in September and a number of cows will be outwintered instead of daily bedding down the lie-back area.