I scanned approximately 70% of the herd two weeks ago and thankfully only had one empty cow. All these cows are in calf to AI. I would be hopeful that a large percentage of the cows that were not scanned are also in calf to AI, but they are just not inseminated long enough to accurately detect a pregnancy.

The herd has now been split into two batches. Those which have been scanned in calf and those which have not. The cows not scanned in calf are running with my Charolais bull to be mopped up.

I have decided to stop feeding meal to everything, a decision that I am still questioning

I have decided to stop feeding meal to everything, a decision that I am still questioning as I have a few cows that are thinner than I would like. These are mostly first-time calvers, along with a few half Friesian crosses. These were fed the same as the rest of the herd, but they tend to be thinner than their continental comrades due to their genetic makeup.

I am toying with the idea of picking out these few thinner cows and continuing to offer them a couple of kilos of meal. But of course, if I do that, I will have to pen them separately, which means I can’t keep them running with the bull and will have to continue to watch them for heat detection.

I’m hopeful that I’ll soon be able to get all these cows to grass and I won’t have to worry about this problem, because to be honest, after nearly three months, my appetite for heat detection is starting to wane!

AI for maiden heifers

This is the first year that I’ve AI’d my maiden heifers. These are all Salers crosses and were put in calf to an easy calving maternal Limousin bull. Thankfully these are all in calf too, despite one of them showing signs of heat the day before we scanned them. Only two of them needed more than one straw.

The recorder on the camera system, along with the head lockers in their pen, made heat detection and insemination quite simple. I will probably continue with this method instead of keeping a second bull, which I had been previously doing.

Store lambs

The store lambs that I bought last autumn have been weighed and have done well. I plan to offer them for sale in the coming weeks. I have not yet decided whether to kill them or just show them back in the local mart, where I bought them.

Either way, they will be the first sheep sold off this farm in over 12 years, so it will be interesting to see how they get on. Factory price is rising slowly and will hopefully rise more by the time I am ready to sell.

They didn’t cause me much hassle and only broke out once! That was only because someone decided to leave a gate open so I may decide to continue with my sheep enterprise, albeit on a fairly small scale.

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