Weather is still affecting ground conditions in parts of the country. Some cattle have been temporarily housed to prevent excessive damage from occurring to grazing ground.
On other farms, cattle have been spread out across land to ease stocking pressure. Drier weather has been forecast towards the end of the week, which may provide an opportunity for animals to return to grass.
Where late-spring-calving cows have been housed and are suckling a calf, it is important that the cow is offered high-quality forage and concentrates to sustain milk production. Calves should also be offered concentrates and have access to a separate creep area to access fresh feed.
Autumn calving
With autumn calving under way on farms, it is important that cows are offered high-quality grazing swards, as they will have an increasing demand for energy during the early stages of lactation. If their energy demand is not being met, cows will quickly lose body condition which reduces milk production and affects cow fertility.
To counteract this, freshly calved cows should get priority grazing. They may also require supplementary feeding with concentrates. The level of feeding will depend on the quality of grazing sward, weather and the time of year.
Where cows are grazing on silage aftermath, grass quality will be good and concentrate levels can be reduced.
For cows grazing on older and less-productive swards, supplementation rates will have to be increased to balance the cow’s nutritional requirement.
Week in review
Grazing conditions remain difficult on the farms operating on heavier land heavier rainfall last week.Where cattle have been temporarily housed, good-quality silage and meal is being fed to maintain performance.Cattle are slowly returning to grass as soon as ground conditions and weather permit.Autumn-calving is under way on several farms.Farmer focus: Barry Carty, Garrison, Co Fermanagh
Autumn calving under way
Calving takes place from mid-August to late spring mainly because cows run in small groups during the summer as land is heavily fragmented.
This means I have to get as many cows in-calf again before they go out to grass. The smaller groups make it difficult to breed cows with any degree of success during the summer.
Most of my grazing land is really only capable of maintaining dry cows, so autumn and winter calving works much better for me. I am planning to move towards calving 40 cows in September and October with a further group of 20 to calve in January and February.
I have seven cows calved since mid-August, with a further 23 to calve by December. Cows are calving to a mixture of AI sires and a Charolais stock bull.
The AI calves born to date have been sired by Popes Barclay, a Simmental bull that is strong on both maternal and terminal traits, as well as being easy-calving.
I have been using some maternal bulls in recent years to breed replacements, but I am going to stop this in future as it is just complicating things.
I don’t have the land quality, or availability, to start rearing heifers past the one-year-old stage.
My system is built on selling weanlings, and maternally bred bull calves are heavily discounted in the live trade.
In future, I plan to purchase replacements and stick with mainly Charolais sires.
Dry cows
Dry cows were grazed on rougher land all summer and are coming off the best areas in body condition scores in the range of 3.0 to 3.25.
Cows are also fit from grazing and I think this helps with calving ease in the autumn cows compared with the spring-calving cows which are housed on slats all winter.
All cows are brought home to calve, making it easier to observe them and intervene, if required. Once housed, dry cows are offered ad-lib silage with pre-calving minerals fed daily in the run up to calving. Minerals are simply fed on top of silage.
Tight calving
In order to run a herd of 40 autumn- and 20 spring-calving cows in two compact-calving blocks, calving intervals will need to improve. Along with improved winter nutrition, I also intend to use a synchronisation programme to reduce the reliance on heat detection.
This should also allow me to make better use of AI, improving the growth potential of future calves and make them more saleable.
My stock bull was sold earlier this year due to poor fertility. However it is unrealistic to think I will be able to depend solely on AI in the short term so another bull will be purchased as a sweeper.
First-cut silage will be fed to autumn-calving cows and quality should be good as it was made in ideal conditions back in May. Good-quality silage balanced with meal will increase energy intake during the breeding season, helping to boost cow fertility and hopefully conception rates.
Change of direction for weanling system
In the past, most spring-born calves were sold through the annual autumn weanling sales. However, this winter I am looking at doing something different with the spring born calves.
Earlier this year, I took the decision to expand cattle housing and have almost completed a new cattle shed.
The aim is to house autumn-calving cows in this new shed, freeing up other housing to potentially allow some calves to be held on longer after weaning.
If we have adequate silage supplies and it is of sufficient quality to not require excessive meal feeding, then I would like to be in a position to add more weight on calves before selling.
My experience of selling weanlings has been that although some of the lighter calves can return a good price per kilogramme. But it rarely returns a sufficient amount to cover the cost of keeping the cow. On average, heavier calves return higher sales values.
Spring is also a time when there is a strong demand for cattle, which is usually reflected in price. Having sold my autumn-born calves in April and May this year, I think that selling spring-born calves as yearlings is a good way to move forward.
Weaning
Spring calves are coming close to weaning time. Meal was introduced three weeks ago with calves getting a 17% protein ration.
In total, there are 20 spring-born calves to wean this autumn. They have been given a second worm treatment ahead of weaning, with all calves getting a Noromectin pour-on.
I am considering my options with this group to wean them. Weaning now could allow calves to remain at grass, which is much more realistic for my land at this stage of the year.
Cows could then remain housed on restricted silage, or weather permitting, you can move them back to rough grazing.
Weather is still affecting ground conditions in parts of the country. Some cattle have been temporarily housed to prevent excessive damage from occurring to grazing ground.
On other farms, cattle have been spread out across land to ease stocking pressure. Drier weather has been forecast towards the end of the week, which may provide an opportunity for animals to return to grass.
Where late-spring-calving cows have been housed and are suckling a calf, it is important that the cow is offered high-quality forage and concentrates to sustain milk production. Calves should also be offered concentrates and have access to a separate creep area to access fresh feed.
Autumn calving
With autumn calving under way on farms, it is important that cows are offered high-quality grazing swards, as they will have an increasing demand for energy during the early stages of lactation. If their energy demand is not being met, cows will quickly lose body condition which reduces milk production and affects cow fertility.
To counteract this, freshly calved cows should get priority grazing. They may also require supplementary feeding with concentrates. The level of feeding will depend on the quality of grazing sward, weather and the time of year.
Where cows are grazing on silage aftermath, grass quality will be good and concentrate levels can be reduced.
For cows grazing on older and less-productive swards, supplementation rates will have to be increased to balance the cow’s nutritional requirement.
Week in review
Grazing conditions remain difficult on the farms operating on heavier land heavier rainfall last week.Where cattle have been temporarily housed, good-quality silage and meal is being fed to maintain performance.Cattle are slowly returning to grass as soon as ground conditions and weather permit.Autumn-calving is under way on several farms.Farmer focus: Barry Carty, Garrison, Co Fermanagh
Autumn calving under way
Calving takes place from mid-August to late spring mainly because cows run in small groups during the summer as land is heavily fragmented.
This means I have to get as many cows in-calf again before they go out to grass. The smaller groups make it difficult to breed cows with any degree of success during the summer.
Most of my grazing land is really only capable of maintaining dry cows, so autumn and winter calving works much better for me. I am planning to move towards calving 40 cows in September and October with a further group of 20 to calve in January and February.
I have seven cows calved since mid-August, with a further 23 to calve by December. Cows are calving to a mixture of AI sires and a Charolais stock bull.
The AI calves born to date have been sired by Popes Barclay, a Simmental bull that is strong on both maternal and terminal traits, as well as being easy-calving.
I have been using some maternal bulls in recent years to breed replacements, but I am going to stop this in future as it is just complicating things.
I don’t have the land quality, or availability, to start rearing heifers past the one-year-old stage.
My system is built on selling weanlings, and maternally bred bull calves are heavily discounted in the live trade.
In future, I plan to purchase replacements and stick with mainly Charolais sires.
Dry cows
Dry cows were grazed on rougher land all summer and are coming off the best areas in body condition scores in the range of 3.0 to 3.25.
Cows are also fit from grazing and I think this helps with calving ease in the autumn cows compared with the spring-calving cows which are housed on slats all winter.
All cows are brought home to calve, making it easier to observe them and intervene, if required. Once housed, dry cows are offered ad-lib silage with pre-calving minerals fed daily in the run up to calving. Minerals are simply fed on top of silage.
Tight calving
In order to run a herd of 40 autumn- and 20 spring-calving cows in two compact-calving blocks, calving intervals will need to improve. Along with improved winter nutrition, I also intend to use a synchronisation programme to reduce the reliance on heat detection.
This should also allow me to make better use of AI, improving the growth potential of future calves and make them more saleable.
My stock bull was sold earlier this year due to poor fertility. However it is unrealistic to think I will be able to depend solely on AI in the short term so another bull will be purchased as a sweeper.
First-cut silage will be fed to autumn-calving cows and quality should be good as it was made in ideal conditions back in May. Good-quality silage balanced with meal will increase energy intake during the breeding season, helping to boost cow fertility and hopefully conception rates.
Change of direction for weanling system
In the past, most spring-born calves were sold through the annual autumn weanling sales. However, this winter I am looking at doing something different with the spring born calves.
Earlier this year, I took the decision to expand cattle housing and have almost completed a new cattle shed.
The aim is to house autumn-calving cows in this new shed, freeing up other housing to potentially allow some calves to be held on longer after weaning.
If we have adequate silage supplies and it is of sufficient quality to not require excessive meal feeding, then I would like to be in a position to add more weight on calves before selling.
My experience of selling weanlings has been that although some of the lighter calves can return a good price per kilogramme. But it rarely returns a sufficient amount to cover the cost of keeping the cow. On average, heavier calves return higher sales values.
Spring is also a time when there is a strong demand for cattle, which is usually reflected in price. Having sold my autumn-born calves in April and May this year, I think that selling spring-born calves as yearlings is a good way to move forward.
Weaning
Spring calves are coming close to weaning time. Meal was introduced three weeks ago with calves getting a 17% protein ration.
In total, there are 20 spring-born calves to wean this autumn. They have been given a second worm treatment ahead of weaning, with all calves getting a Noromectin pour-on.
I am considering my options with this group to wean them. Weaning now could allow calves to remain at grass, which is much more realistic for my land at this stage of the year.
Cows could then remain housed on restricted silage, or weather permitting, you can move them back to rough grazing.
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