Tough Week
Over the past 10 days, bad weather brought a huge extra workload on farms dealing with drifting snow, frozen pipes, water shortages and rehousing of animals. Farmers are both physically and mentally drained from a very tough week. This came on top of an already very busy period on suckler farms around the country, with calving getting into full swing on many farms. There have been losses attributed to the conditions and it’s easy to fall into the trap of blaming ourselves for something completely outside our control. It’s very important to keep the chat going with family and friends over the next few days. Sometimes when you are tired and run down, problems can seem way bigger than they really are. It’s important to get some rest and if things are back to normal get away from the farm for a few hours to clear your head. Once problems stay outside the house, they can always be sorted and a solution will be found by talking about the problem.
Dates for the Diary
SOS Events. We have a busy week ahead, with five events taking place in the next seven days. The Save Our Sucklers campaign has been very successful in raising the important issues with the suckler herd and our industry going forward. We have over 35,000 signatures in so far but we still need more. Anybody with a petition at home can you make sure it is fully completed and post it back to SOS, Irish Farmers Journal, Bluebell, Dublin 12. We would like to get all signatures in to the office by Friday 23 March.
SOS events
Athenry Mart, Galway: Thursday 8 March 7pm-9pm.Elphin Mart, Roscommon: Friday 9 March 7pm-9pm.Kilkenny Mart, Kilkenny: Tuesday 13 March 7pm-9pm.Clare Marts, Ennis: Wednesday 14 March 7pm-9pm.Carnaross Mart, Meath: Thursday 15 March 7pm-9pm.All events are approved for the Knowledge Transfer programme and will have speakers from the Irish Farmers Journal, IFA, local vets and AI companies. Live animals will be on display at each event.
Turnout: With animals rehoused last week, disease burdens around sheds will be high. Try to get some stock out if you can at all. Cows and calves will be OK in a sheltered paddock and can be fed silage and meal outdoors if needed. There are 30 cows and calves out on Tullamore Farm on sheltered paddocks. The thinking is they will be a lot healthier outdoors than indoors. It also reduces the labour requirement around the yard.
Ad-lib feeding
With water issues around many yards last week, some animals were taken off ad-lib meals to try to cut back water requirements. Be careful putting these animals back up to ad-lib meal very quickly as it will lead so digestive upsets and acidosis. Build back up gradually over a few weeks to avoid issues. As bulls get bigger in pens, make sure there is enough lying space and drinkers are easily accessed by all animals.
Tough Week
Over the past 10 days, bad weather brought a huge extra workload on farms dealing with drifting snow, frozen pipes, water shortages and rehousing of animals. Farmers are both physically and mentally drained from a very tough week. This came on top of an already very busy period on suckler farms around the country, with calving getting into full swing on many farms. There have been losses attributed to the conditions and it’s easy to fall into the trap of blaming ourselves for something completely outside our control. It’s very important to keep the chat going with family and friends over the next few days. Sometimes when you are tired and run down, problems can seem way bigger than they really are. It’s important to get some rest and if things are back to normal get away from the farm for a few hours to clear your head. Once problems stay outside the house, they can always be sorted and a solution will be found by talking about the problem.
Dates for the Diary
SOS Events. We have a busy week ahead, with five events taking place in the next seven days. The Save Our Sucklers campaign has been very successful in raising the important issues with the suckler herd and our industry going forward. We have over 35,000 signatures in so far but we still need more. Anybody with a petition at home can you make sure it is fully completed and post it back to SOS, Irish Farmers Journal, Bluebell, Dublin 12. We would like to get all signatures in to the office by Friday 23 March.
SOS events
Athenry Mart, Galway: Thursday 8 March 7pm-9pm.Elphin Mart, Roscommon: Friday 9 March 7pm-9pm.Kilkenny Mart, Kilkenny: Tuesday 13 March 7pm-9pm.Clare Marts, Ennis: Wednesday 14 March 7pm-9pm.Carnaross Mart, Meath: Thursday 15 March 7pm-9pm.All events are approved for the Knowledge Transfer programme and will have speakers from the Irish Farmers Journal, IFA, local vets and AI companies. Live animals will be on display at each event.
Turnout: With animals rehoused last week, disease burdens around sheds will be high. Try to get some stock out if you can at all. Cows and calves will be OK in a sheltered paddock and can be fed silage and meal outdoors if needed. There are 30 cows and calves out on Tullamore Farm on sheltered paddocks. The thinking is they will be a lot healthier outdoors than indoors. It also reduces the labour requirement around the yard.
Ad-lib feeding
With water issues around many yards last week, some animals were taken off ad-lib meals to try to cut back water requirements. Be careful putting these animals back up to ad-lib meal very quickly as it will lead so digestive upsets and acidosis. Build back up gradually over a few weeks to avoid issues. As bulls get bigger in pens, make sure there is enough lying space and drinkers are easily accessed by all animals.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: