When I’m out around the country doing some AI work, I often get into some interesting conversations and sometimes get asked for advice. It’s nice to be asked for advice and I’m always willing to share my experiences.

I’m always honest about what has worked for me and what hasn’t. I also try and explain why I think things haven’t worked out the way I intended.

I would say that most farmers (myself included) are receptive to advice and enjoy hearing what fellow farmers think. But in my experience, very few of us ever follow through on that advice. It’s very easy to say, “it’s OK for him, but that wouldn’t work for me”.

Perhaps sometimes what I think does get acted upon, but I reckon that nine out of 10 just ignore everything that I have told them.

Changed thinking

A few months ago, I got a bit of advice that has totally changed some of my thinking.

We all know how bad the weather has been in recent months and how likely it is that there is going to be a shortage of silage this winter. I thought that I was going to have plenty of fodder, but with the severe weather in recent weeks I have already eaten significantly into supplies. It really isn’t a winter for carrying any passengers on the farm.

With this in mind, I was talking my options through with a friend. He suggested weaning cows that were earmarked for culling earlier than normal.

I have already been doing this all summer with spring-calving cows. When calves were four or five months old, I would take the cows away from them and either go straight to the factory or feed them for a couple of months.

The calves were then fed a little meal to keep them growing on, with the cows gone out of the system.

But this was not the advice I was getting now. Instead, his suggestion was to take the cows away from the calves at a few days old.

At first, I thought this was just plain silly. To dry off a cow and bucket-feed the calf didn’t seem like the wise thing to do. Surely keeping the calf on the cow made much more sense.

The calf would do better on the cow and it would be a lot easier, and also cheaper.

Then I looked at the other side of the equation. These cows are in their last year here. Some had lost quarters, and some had difficult calvings, or were bad mothers.

If I were to let them rear their calves (born this autumn), then I would have to keep them all winter and then wean them next spring. Then they would have to be fed for a couple of months before going to the factory.

Costs

The cost of doing that could be significant. Seven tonnes of silage at £20/t works out at £140/head, before any other expenses. If silage is valued at £30/t, then the cost is £210.

Then you have the added problem of slurry storage, extra housing space, as well as the concentrate required to get the cows fit for sale.

Compare that to two bags of calf milk and about 300kg of extra meal for each calf, which comes to about £140.

Needless to say, after looking at the economics, I took his advice and weaned the calves a few days after birth. I think it has been a remarkable success.

It was difficult getting some of the calves to start drinking the milk and there were times I doubted if I had done the right thing.

But the calves are now off milk and on meal only, and are very easily looked after.

As for the cows, they have been fattened and are gone off the farm. This should help save silage and help cashflow.

This is definitely something I will do again. Cull early and offload the passengers.

This is no year to be carrying extra stock that we don’t have to.