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Condition scoring cows on the Greenfield Farm Kilkenny March 31 2018 - one month from start of breeding.
The dry weather this weekend helped keep some grass in the diet of the milking herd. At the moment the diet is 6kg meal, 6kg grass silage and 6kg of grazed grass per cow.
The cows yet to calve remain on the woodchip stand-off pad. In total there are about 25 cows left to calf.
Given the fact that we are one month from the start of breeding this weekend, the whole herd was body condition scored, lameness scored and mobility scored. Any cows missing a tag were also noted down.
Of the 300 cows in the milking herd, 11 cows were identified as body condition score 2 to 2.25. They were taken out of the main milking herd and put into the second herd that are milked once a day.
A cow measuring condition score 3 on the Greenfield Farm Kilkenny, March 31, 2018.
A cow measuring condition score 3 on the Greenfield Farm Kilkenny on March 31.
On average the herd scored 3, with about 50 cows around the 2.5 mark or less, 190 scoring 3 to 3.25 and about 50 cows scoring 3.5 plus. There were about 40 cows that scored a 2 or 3 on mobility scoring and these will be taken care of early next week.
Grazing conditions
Grazing conditions in general were good on Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday. In total there are about 18 grazings left in the first round.
The issue, however, is that there is only a cover of 300kg to 400kg DM/ha (2cm to 5cm) of growth on the paddocks that were grazed in early February. Ideally, you would like to see a cover of 1,200kg (12cm to 14cm) in these paddocks before the cows get back to them and essentially that means the herd will need to be supplemented with meal and silage for at least the next 15 to 20 days.
Similar to most farms locally, the intention will be to keep the mix of grass silage, meal and grazed grass in the diet for the next 20 days.
The last collection was about 18 litres per cow at 3.49% protein and 4.40% fat (1.46 kg MS/cow).
The dry weather this weekend helped keep some grass in the diet of the milking herd. At the moment the diet is 6kg meal, 6kg grass silage and 6kg of grazed grass per cow.
The cows yet to calve remain on the woodchip stand-off pad. In total there are about 25 cows left to calf.
Given the fact that we are one month from the start of breeding this weekend, the whole herd was body condition scored, lameness scored and mobility scored. Any cows missing a tag were also noted down.
Of the 300 cows in the milking herd, 11 cows were identified as body condition score 2 to 2.25. They were taken out of the main milking herd and put into the second herd that are milked once a day.
A cow measuring condition score 3 on the Greenfield Farm Kilkenny, March 31, 2018.
A cow measuring condition score 3 on the Greenfield Farm Kilkenny on March 31.
On average the herd scored 3, with about 50 cows around the 2.5 mark or less, 190 scoring 3 to 3.25 and about 50 cows scoring 3.5 plus. There were about 40 cows that scored a 2 or 3 on mobility scoring and these will be taken care of early next week.
Grazing conditions
Grazing conditions in general were good on Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday. In total there are about 18 grazings left in the first round.
The issue, however, is that there is only a cover of 300kg to 400kg DM/ha (2cm to 5cm) of growth on the paddocks that were grazed in early February. Ideally, you would like to see a cover of 1,200kg (12cm to 14cm) in these paddocks before the cows get back to them and essentially that means the herd will need to be supplemented with meal and silage for at least the next 15 to 20 days.
Similar to most farms locally, the intention will be to keep the mix of grass silage, meal and grazed grass in the diet for the next 20 days.
The last collection was about 18 litres per cow at 3.49% protein and 4.40% fat (1.46 kg MS/cow).
Beef editor Adam Woods takes a look at turning cattle out to grass, keeping calves healthy and captilising on the good mart trade.
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