Scanning cows
Kieran Mailey on 19 Oct 2021
Beef management: time for pregnancy scanning spring-calving cows
Farmers operating spring-calving suckler herds should be thinking about pregnancy scanning cows.
Photo Desk on 19 Sep 2021
Watch: This week in photos - 2021 Ploughing Championships and Moorepark Open Day
All the action from the 2021 National Ploughing Championships in Co Laois, Moorepark '21 Open Day in Co Cork and more!
Kieran Mailey on 16 Feb 2021
Beef management: time to scan autumn-calving cows
Mid- to late-February is a good time to scan autumn-calving cows. Barren animals should be marked for culling and replaced with in-calf heifers later in the year.
Kieran Mailey on 11 Nov 2020
BETTER Farm NI: Crossbreeding driving weaning weights
A change in breeding sires has seen heavier weaning weights for Paul and Thomas Jamison.
Kieran Mailey on 29 Sep 2020
Beef management: scanning time for spring-calving cows
Suckler farmers should be thinking about pregnancy scanning spring-calving cows and offloading all cull cows as early as possible.
Kieran Mailey on 01 Jul 2020
Mid-season breeding key to suckler output
Cow fertility is improved when animals are on a steady diet of good quality grass during the breeding season
Katriona Kinsella on 21 Mar 2020
In pictures: readers’ photos of the week
From harvesting maize in Australia to scanning cows in Co Kerry, we share our favourite reader photos of the week.
Kieran Mailey on 23 Oct 2019
Watch: BETTER Farm NI – focus turns to winter housing management
Cows and calves have been housed for the winter on Ryan McDowell's farm, with scanning results confirming a successful breeding season.
Kieran Mailey on 19 Oct 2019
Five autumn management tasks for spring-calving cows
With spring-calving cows housed for winter, Kieran Mailey outlines some management tasks to focus on over the coming weeks.
Kieran Mailey on 02 Oct 2019
BETTER Farm NI: bullocks housed for winter finishing
Bullocks have been housed for finishing and preparations for weaning are underway on Fionbharr Hamill's farm
Kieran Mailey on 28 Sep 2019
Weekend management: five autumn management tasks for cattle farmers
Farming has a never-ending workload, but some tasks should get priority over others. Kieran Mailey outlines five management tasks to focus on this autumn.
Contributor on 14 Aug 2019
End of one season heralds the beginning of the next
Autumn scanning can really impact on good decision making for the year ahead, writes Cathal Ó Sé.
James Strain on 09 Apr 2019
Farmer writes: scanning cows and reviving lamb sales
Co Donegal drystock farmer James Strains is refining his AI breeding system and has the first batch of lambs ready to sell from his farm in over 12 years.
Photo Desk on 09 Sep 2018
This week in photos: UCD graduations and cabbage harvesting
Our top photos from the past week include marts in Scarriff and Ballybofey.
Kieran Mailey on 08 Aug 2018
BETTER farm NI: Key tasks for herd management in early autumn
Early autumn is a period that requires high levels of herd management to maximise cattle performance.
Contributor on 02 May 2018
Vet's corner: fertility – the next challenge
Once-a-day milking for a few weeks is an effective way of improving cow condition pre-breeding.
Kieran Mailey on 13 Dec 2017
Watch: finishing cattle coming fit for slaughter
Managing finishing cattle and being on red alert for pneumonia in weanlings have been key priorities on the BETTER Farm NI programme farms this week.
Kieran Mailey on 27 Sep 2017
Watch: spring calves weaned after early housing of cattle
With cows housed much earlier than planned, farmers participating in the BETTER Farm NI programme have opted to start weaning calves to ease feed requirement.
Contributor on 23 Aug 2017
Getting prepared for autumn weaning
Steps are now being taken to prepare spring-born calves for weaning, starting with animal health, writes Francis Breen.
Kieran Mailey on 26 Oct 2016
Heifers hit 95% in-calf after nine-week breeding period
NI Suckler Beef Programme farmer James Taylor has been busy scanning and weaning his spring-calving suckler herd, achieving some excellent breeding and calf performance.