Silage quality

If making quality silage is on the agenda this year, plans should be put in place. Where silage ground has been rested since late autumn last year, giving this ground a quick grazing in spring can significantly improve silage quality. While there might not be much of a grass cover on it, what is there will be old and decaying by the time silage season comes around if it’s left ungrazed. Starting with a fresh sward in early- to mid-April will ensure you are not bringing in any old, poor-quality grass.

While conditions may be poor at the moment, it’s important to have a plan in place to get this ground grazed in the coming fortnight. Can lighter stock be turned out in the next week or can ewes and lambs be used to clean it up? Aim for a late May-early June cutting date. We need to move away from looking for ‘bulk’ and concentrate on feed quality. Of course we need to have enough to cover the long winter, this has never been more obvious than just now, but if you can get the first cut done by early June it leaves plenty of time for subsequent cuts later in the year. On farms that have run out of silage this year, or used reserves built up from previous years, additional ground should be considered for silage to build up a buffer for next winter. Often extra silage can be made through better grazing management, removing excess paddocks in times of high grass growth.

Purchased-in cattle

Over the next few weeks, if you are buying in cattle to run for the season and you suspect them to have a heavy worm burden, avoid using an ivermectin-based product straight away. Ivermectin-based products can lead to a very fast kill and the stress of coughing up dead worms can lead to pneumonia issues.

White drenches and levamisole-type drenches have a much slower kill rate and will be easier on the animal. However, it’s worth noting that these products do not have the same residual cover as ivermectin-based products. A simple dosing programme would be to use a white/levamisole drench on arrival, followed by an ivermectin-based product two weeks later. Taking faecal samples is a cheap way of determining whether you need to dose or not. Talk to your vet about getting samples analysed and putting a dosing programme in place.

Calving/lambing pens

Keeping calving and lambing pens clean at all times is critically important to minimise the risk of disease spread. As the calving/lambing season progresses, the level of disease builds up if the correct procedures are not in place. On farms where problems occur, it is typically towards the end of the season that it becomes an issue. Where this is the case, complete removal of bedding and disinfecting the area thoroughly is essential to reduce incidences of infection. Keeping the area as dry as possible is also important, as many of the bugs thrive in warm, moist conditions. Liming pens after cleaning is a good way to dry up moisture and balance the pH in the environment.