Shed space

We are entering into a pressure period, with housing on many spring-calving suckler farms. Tullamore Farm is no different and with ewes all housed we are short a shed for cows and calves after calving. If ground conditions improve we will turnout 20 weanling heifers and this will free up a loose shed. At the moment, four cows and calves have been let out on a sheltered paddock beside the yard and are doing fine.

Try to avoid putting cows and young calves back into sheds with older cattle, especially if they are bought-in cattle. If space is tight there may be merit in keeping calves on straw and putting cows back to slats, and allowing the calves to suck twice a day. This will also cut down on straw usage. It may also have the added benefit of bringing cows into heat earlier than normal after calving.

Calf scour

Previously, the advice was to remove milk from the diet of scouring calves. However, there is growing evidence to suggest that milk should be fed in conjunction with oral rehydration products.

The theory is that the milk is required in the diet to maintain the energy levels and to aid healing of the gut lining. Studies have shown that continuing milk feeding does not prolong or worsen the scour outbreak. I spoke with a number of vets this week on the subject.

The general advice is that oral rehydration should start as soon as a scouring calf is identified. It’s recommended to feed 4l of a good rehydration solution while, at the same time, offering the calf 3l/day of milk.

First port of call should be rehydration and not scour tablets. Isolation is also important and calves with scour should be taken out from the main batch if possible. Cavan vet Finbarr Kiernan makes some important points around treating sick calves on page 35.

BDGP self-selection

Farmers participating in BDGP will have received letters in the last two weeks about the option to select the animals you wish to genotype in your herd. One of the requirements of the BDGP scheme is that a fixed number – 60% of the number of females that calved in 2014 – are genotyped every year during the programme. A herd with 35 cows calving in 2014 must genotype 21 animals each year.

If there are animals on the list that you do not intend to breed from, eg heifers that are destined for finishing, it would be better to swap these for animals that you do intend to breed from in the future. If there are cull cows selected, you can swap these for some heifers that you intend to keep in the herd for breeding.

To make changes to your 2018 genotyping list, log on to ICBF Herdplus, click “services” on the top of your homepage, then “Beef Data and Genomics Programme”, “genomic services” and “self-selection”. Self-selection is open until 11 February. Remember, 20% of your herds’ breeding animals (the 2014 reference number) must be four-or five-star on 31 October 2018.