After a fortnight inside it was noticed that the calves were beginning to sweat across their backs, likely due to a combination of fairly strong feeding and the exceptionally mild temperatures we’re currently experiencing.Though it’s not something we’ve done before, we took the calves out to the crush and clipped their backs. In hindsight, this should have been done straight after housing as they were wormed with pour-on after a few days inside and the blue stripes were still clear to be seen along their spines.
After a fortnight inside it was noticed that the calves were beginning to sweat across their backs, likely due to a combination of fairly strong feeding and the exceptionally mild temperatures we’re currently experiencing.
Though it’s not something we’ve done before, we took the calves out to the crush and clipped their backs. In hindsight, this should have been done straight after housing as they were wormed with pour-on after a few days inside and the blue stripes were still clear to be seen along their spines.
Currently it is costing us around €100 each week to feed these weanlings, and while we rarely sell calves under 300kg, there is an excellent trade for light hairy heifers at the moment, especially if they are of the golden variety.
Along with these, we have two top-quality bulls and a sale date will be decided on this week, with the cost of ration being a major factor towards our final decision.
The weather certainly has all of us scratching our heads (except for the calves as they’re also done for lice with the pour-on) as it’s abnormally warm for this time of year.
The fields are even greener than they were back in April and looking more lush each day, though unless we had very light stock around there’s no way to graze it without damage.
From memory, the last time we had a similar weather pattern was back in 2010, just before we had a cold snap which lasted for weeks.
However, as my weather forecasting is limited to looking at the colour of the lake to predict if rain is on the way and seeing rain coming from a distance at the top of the hill, I’d not take anything I speculate about too seriously.
Our last animal to calve in 2024 produced the goods for us last Tuesday night. While I’d mentioned we weren’t worried about her, she fired out a calf that looked so much like a twin in size that my father sat waiting around for two hours in expectation of a second one before realising it was just a single small heifer.
Though we all like to see a decent sized calf arrive, having a heifer calve without any aid is our preference and it was up and suckling within a couple of hours.
By Loyal, who is our go-to bull for heifers, she has all the stars we need as well, along with enough character that saw her escape into the weanling pen numerous times a day before she learned to stay in the straw bedded area while her dam was let out to eat at the barrier.
Farmers have a habit of putting things on the long finger, with this farm being no exception. Finally after 25 years, a new road has been laid to the shed. With over 50m² of concrete it is somewhat expensive but it already adds character to the farmyard.
Major thanks must go to the three bearded men, Dara, Séamus and Aaron (forgive me if I’ve spelled any of your names incorrectly) who spread this concrete in two short days. Not alone were they mighty workers but great craic to speak with while waiting on the lorries to arrive, and we would recommend them to anybody.
One unexpected problem has cropped up after its installation though, I’ve no puddles to wash my wellies in after working in the shed.
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