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As 2019 draws to a close, thoughts should be turning to what tasks need to be completed to set the farm up for spring 2020. Outlined are five tasks to consider over the coming weeks.
1 Body condition scoring cows
With spring calving just around the corner, now is the ideal time to assess cows for body condition. Thin cows at calving will be lethargic, struggle to produce milk and are slower to come back in heat, meaning they take longer to get back in-calf.
Fat cows also encounter calving problems and experience fertility problems after calving. Condition scoring now will allow you to pull out cows that are either thin or fat. This can be corrected in time for calving.
Increasing cow condition from 2.0 to 2.5 is the equivalent of gaining 30kg to 40kg of liveweight, so the earlier this is carried out the better.
When reducing body condition, decrease it over a similar time period by restricting silage or offering lower-quality forage. However, make sure cows are properly covered for minerals.
2 Introduce pre-calving minerals
Silage diets are low in minerals. A lack of trace elements such as iodine, selenium and vitamin E means cows are more lethargic at calving and therefore need greater assistance during labour.
Cows lacking minerals in the pre-calving diet have a greater tendency to hold the placenta after calving, thereby increasing the risk of infection and reducing fertility.
Therefore, feeding pre-calving minerals is a good way to prevent these problems from occurring. Options include powdered minerals, lick buckets or using a bolus.
3 Soil testing
Early January is an ideal time to take a few soil samples before the closed period for slurry spreading ends.
Soil testing will identify which fields should be targeted with P and K, either through farmyard manure, slurry or chemical fertiliser.
Soil testing now will give a more accurate reading, as there will be no residues from autumn fertiliser or urine and dung from grazing animals.
4 Benchmarking
As another year ends, it is a natural time to sit down and work out how the farm performed this year.
Work out how many cattle were sold, along with the average sale weight and price. Also, how many cows were scanned to calve during spring 2019. Compare this with how many cows actually calved and how many weaned a calf in autumn 2019.
Compare this to previous years. Use the information to try to get a handle on the costs of keeping cattle on your farm and build on it for this spring.
5 Offloading late calving cows
When did calving start in 2019 and when did it finish? Does your scanning info show any progress in tightening the calving period?
If not, think long and hard about whether you want to keep late-calving cows. If the bulk of cows calve in March and April, with a few stragglers running into June, it may be better to sell off these later-calving animals now. They can be replaced by picking up in-calf animals that are due in March.
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