A spike in calving activity over the last two weeks has brought the total number of cows calved at Newford Farm, Athenry, Co Galway, to 63, as of Friday morning. Within this, 53 cows calved in a three-week period from 1 February to 21 February, with a further nine cows calving in a 36-hour period up until noon on 23 February. This leaves aside one cow, which calved before her due date in late January. There was also one set of twins born, bringing the total number of calves to 64.

Farm manager Matthew Murphy reports calving progressing smoothly, with the only real issues coming ahead of the calving season as three cows aborted (two due to a bacterial infection and one injury-related). One of these cows has been sent for slaughter, while the other two will continue to receive ad-lib silage and 6kg concentrates until fit for slaughter. Matthew reports that the cow with e-coli mastitis is also doing much better. The cow’s calf is being fostered onto another mature cow, which has surplus milk, as a temporary measure. While the initial hope was to transfer the calf back, it looks like a better option will now be to persist with fostering the calf as the sick cow’s milk yield has greatly reduced.

Figures collated on calving ease by Michael Fagan, Teagasc, are detailed in Table 1. Forty-one cows have calved unassisted, with no veterinary assistance required for any calving to date. The average calf birth weight is 42kg, with a high percentage ranging from 38kg to 44kg. A small number of bigger calves born to mature cows have ranged from 50kg to 60kg.

Grass growth

Grass growth over the last week ranged from 4kg DM/ha to 9kg DM/ha across the four land blocks, as detailed in Table 2. The average soil temperature is 6°C, which is limiting growth. This is likely to remain the cas,e with the sub-zero temperatures forecast over the coming week. On the upside, ground conditions are slowly improving, with three quarters of a bag of urea (34.5 units nitrogen) applied on the driest paddocks in recent days.

Weather is being closely monitored, with the initial target to get cows and calves out to grass towards the end of next week. With pressure building on space, a decision may be taken to turn cows with the strongest calves out before this, while also allowing calves time to settle in advance of temperatures dropping further. A decision has not been finalised on this and will depend on calving activity in the next 24 hours, as well as the weather. Ground conditions will also be closely monitored on Tuohy’s land block, where there are some heavier covers to graze off. Once suitable, yearling steers and heifers will be turned out to grass.