Iarlaith Collins

Newford Herd, Athenry, Co Galway

How many have calved so far?

Calving started on 23 January and, to date, there are 86 cows calved with 84 live calves on the ground. We have 13 left to calve and the last one is due on 4 April.

Have you had any mortalities?

There have been four mortalities so far but there were two sets of twins. One calf was born with an abnormal intestine, one calf (a twin) was coming breached and was dead on arrival and another was a difficult calving as a result of an abnormality.

The final loss was a cow standing on a calf so, all in all, there was very little we could do about any of them.

What are you feeding to the cows?

Prior to calving, cows are receiving 68% DMD pit silage, some straw and 100g/head/day of a high-quality pre-calving powder mineral. After calving, cows are receiving 74% DMD baled silage and have 24/7 access to high-magnesium lick buckets. If cows are indoors for more than a month after calving, I will probably have to introduce some ration.

Do you have any calves at grass?

No. I’d like to have calves at grass and it’s certainly not for the want of grass, but ground conditions are just not good enough. I’m keeping a close eye on the weather forecast though.

Where are you sourcing colostrum?

Given that the cows are dairy cross, most have plenty of milk. And because of the tight calving pattern, we usually would have a cow with colostrum, if necessary.

Worst-case scenario, we will use artificial colostrum.

We don’t take in any colostrum from other farms.

What health treatments are calves getting?

All calves are dosed for coccidiosis and vaccinated against IBR (intranasal) and clostridial disease. I have 50 calves fully treated and ready to go out.

What sire has impressed you most?

The Charolais bull Bivouac (CH2218) has really impressed me. He is easy-calving, has good growth rates and his calves have a nice colour. I’d say his calves are performing the best out of all the calves and they are only out of second- and third-calvers.

Are you using any technology for calving?

Considering I’m living five miles away from the farm, I couldn’t do without the calving camera in the calving shed.

What change has worked well this calving season?

I started using a feeding regime. The cows are shut away from the silage from 8.30am until 4.30pm. They then get full access to silage in the evening and for the night. So far, 85% to 90% of the cows have calved between 6am and 11pm, which is great.

What change would you make for next year’s calving season?

I will start the feeding regime earlier. I only started it on 4 February and it took the cows four or five days to get used to it. I’ll do research into the feeding strategy and definitely start it earlier next year.

Shaun Diver

Tullamore Farm, Co Offaly

How many have calved so far?

Since the beginning of calving on 4 February, 64 cows have calved with 62 live calves. Calving should be wound up by mid-April.

Have you had any mortalities?

We have had two mortalities so far. The first mortality was the very first cow that calved – it was a difficult presentation and the calf didn’t put up much of a fight. The cow was young and had a big supply of milk, so we bought a Limousin heifer calf for €210 and the adoption worked well. The other loss was a heifer that had a foot down and the calf was dead on arrival.

What are you feeding to the cows?

Any cows that have calved and remain indoors are on first-cut, 73% DMD pit silage and 1.5kg/head/day of a 16% crude protein weanling ration.

Before calving, dry cows are getting the lower-quality, second-cut pit silage, 100g/head/day of pre-calver powder minerals and 0.5kg/head/day of soya bean meal.

Do you have any calves at grass?

We have 20 cows and calves out since last week. They were let out in small batches of six and seven cows. The cows received a magnesium bolus prior to turnout.

Where are you sourcing colostrum?

Thankfully, we haven’t had to source much colostrum but we have frozen stock on hand. It is sourced from a local dairy farm that we know is Johne’s-free and that herd is also vaccinated for scour prior to calving, like our own.

What health treatments are calves getting?

Calves receive a vaccination for clostridial disease and pneumonia (RSV and Pi3). This year, that’s happening before turnout.

What sire has impressed you most?

I’m a big fan of the Simmental bull Cloondroon Calling (QCD) for the last two years. As you’d expect, he is delivering top-quality heifer calves but the fact he is also giving us a quality bull calf is very pleasing and certainly works for the system.

Are you using any technology for calving?

I’d be lost without the calving camera. Whether you are living away from the farm or not, I don’t think anyone should be calving cows without a camera.

What change has worked well this calving season?

I think using all Simmental sires at the start of the breeding season has worked well because I can really see the heifer calves starting to take off now. There should be some super animals in two years’ time for breeding. The terminal calves coming later in the season works well then.

What change would you make for next year’s calving season?

I will make a big effort to have the heifers calving at the start of the calving season next year. I might even pull their calving date forward to 20 January to get a lot of them calved and be able to give them more attention rather than having them mixed in with the cows.

It will mean starting AI sooner this spring.

Michael McManus

Derrypatrick Herd, Grange, Co Meath

How many have calved so far?

We have 65 cows calved to date with 69 live calves on the ground. We had seven sets of twins in total but lost one calf from two of the sets. Calving started on 14 February and we have 40 left to calve before the last week of April.

Have you had any mortalities?

As mentioned, we lost one calf from two different sets of twins. Both were dead before birth. The only other mortality was a premature birth which, thankfully, didn’t prove to be anything sinister.

What are you feeding to the cows?

Cows are getting 70% DMD silage at about an 80% allocation. They are left without silage for a couple of hours each day to slightly restrict. We are ensuring all cows have sufficient feed space though. Protocol here means cows are condition-scored and weighed each month. After calving, they are getting 76% DMD silage. If they have to stay in much longer, some of the first-calvers will need some concentrates. All cows are getting minerals through the water system.

Do you have any calves at grass?

No. We have plenty of grass but ground conditions are very touch and go. We will be anxious to get some out soon though or, as mentioned, the cows will have to start getting concentrates.

Where are you sourcing colostrum?

Obviously, we get as much colostrum as possible from the cow first. If she hasn’t enough, we will try to source it from another cow that has calved recently. Our final option is to use artificial colostrum but this would only be used in conjunction with natural colostrum to increase the volume.

What health treatments are calves getting?

Calves are getting Halocur for seven days after two days of age as a prevention against cryptosporidium. At two weeks of age, they receive both the IBR and RSV and Pi3 vaccinations (intranasal) to fight against pneumonia and at four weeks of age they get the primary vaccination against clostridial disease. Coccidiosis is only treated on a case-by-case basis.

What sire has impressed you most?

Last year, we used a total of 16 sires from the active bull list, based on our search criteria, so it’s very hard to pick out an individual bull. What I would say is that we used all Angus on the maiden heifers and it worked out very well – they’re easy-calved and great lively calves.

Are you using any technology for calving?

We aren’t using any at present but perhaps Moocall sensors might be worth looking into for when the final few cows are due to calve.

What change has worked well this calving season?

The calving system in Grange has been in operation for a long number of years so it’s well tweaked at this stage. I would say we placed a greater emphasis on the breeding season last year though and it has left us with a tighter spread of calves.

What change would you make for next year’s calving season?

Again, there are very few changes to make, but if I go back to the breeding, I’ll probably continue to improve the six-week calving rate and try to shorten the overall length of the season through better heat detection, paying particular attention to getting as many heifers calved as early as possible.