Calving Preparation: With calving just around the corner, take the time now to be as prepared as possible. Have the calving pens cleaned out and bedded with fresh straw. Some farmers will stack a few big bales of straw in the corner of the pens and use them first – saving time during the busiest first few weeks. Have you enough supplies? Iodine spray for the navels, plastic gloves, tags, etc. Take the time now to check the teats on calf feeders and replace cracked ones – a tricky job at the best of times, so do it now and have it out of the way. Change the milk liners and get the milking machine serviced before the start of calving.

Milk Quality: This week’s Focus supplement is on milk quality. On pages eight and nine, we go into detail on some of the issues to avoid, particularly in spring with higher risks of antibiotic-treated milk entering the bulk tanks. On pages six and seven, we discuss udder health issues and show some of the results from a pilot study in Moorepark on teat-sealing heifers. It appears that the teat sealer reduced the number of mastitis-causing bacteria in quarters that were teat-sealed versus those that were not treated.

If considering it this year, the advice is to teat-seal the heifers four to six weeks prior to calving. Get plenty of help in – some do it successfully in the parlour, while others prefer to use the crush. Hygiene is critical, as it is really easy to introduce infection when teat-sealing, especially when no antibiotic is being used. Whether or not it is worthwhile depends on if you have a problem or not and what is contributing to that problem. A high incidence of mastitis among first-calvers in the first 100 days of lactation may indicate a problem which teat-sealing heifers might help to reduce.

New Year’s Resolutions: The most profitable farmers in any system are those who manage their resources best. For Irish farmers, this is grass and cash. Every farmer should make a new year’s resolution to manage each better in 2016. On grass, it starts with weekly grass walks and comparing growth with demand and taking action when there is a surplus or a deficit. Cash is similar. Do a monthly budget and compare it with reality. Budgeting will allow you to forecast a surplus or more importantly a cash deficit and will allow for early action.

For those already measuring grass and cash, skills can always be improved. It is now easier than ever to measure and manage grass and cash with new tools for both readily available.

The Grass+ page in the Irish Farmers Journal will be starting up again in the next few weeks, which will help to aid decision-making around grassland management. For those with little knowledge of grass measuring but want to learn, contact your local dairy adviser who should be able to organise a mini course or point you in the right direction.