How long do you want to spend calving cows each year? While most farms will have a peak period when 60% to 70% of the herd will calve within three to four weeks, there are always a few cows that drag calving on for another one to two months.

The question has to be asked, are these animals worth the hassle? More often than not, the answer is no. Having a handful of cows that drag calving into summer time complicates a spring-calving set up where the bulk of cows calve from February to April.

Late-born calves do not fit in with the summer worming programme for the earlier-born calves. They are also too light to wean in autumn, meaning cows probably need supplemented with concentrates at housing to sustain milk production. Calf creeps also have to be provided, which takes up valuable housing space.

The simplest way to tighten the calving pattern is to remove the stock bull on a set date. The aim on programme farms is to run the stock bulls for 10 to 12 weeks during the breeding season. However, where starting with a spread out calving pattern, tightening this period is often a gradual process, especially if the number of in-calf heifers ready to come into the herd is limited.

You can start by restricting the breeding period to around 14 weeks this year and reduce to 12 weeks next year. Once scanned, empty cows should be fattened and removed from the system as early as possible. This removes the temptation to hold cows for autumn breeding or, worse still, letting them run empty to the following year. The value of cull cows should cover the cost of bringing in extra replacement heifers that can calve at the start of your desired calving period.

Early scanning also provides farmers with accurate calving dates, allowing cows to be grouped this winter, facilitating better targeted feeding and timely pre-calving scour vaccination and mineral supplementation. For those farmers vaccinating cows to cover salmonella, scanning is a good point to administer this.

Week in review

  • Breeding periods are now coming to an end for spring-calving herds.
  • Stock bulls are being removed completely from cows, with scanning taking place around 30 days later.
  • Ground conditions have come under pressure on some farms with heavier land.
  • Autumn-calving is now under way on some farms.
  • Farmer Focus: Mark Lewis, Portadown, Co Armagh

    Moving from autumn to spring calving

    I have 23 autumn-calving cows coming close to calving. There should be ?ve cows calving in the next two weeks and the remainder calving in early October, going by scanning results. This is my last year for autumn calving, as I am moving to 100% spring calving next year. Split calving is making my system too complicated, with extra stock groups, and is putting pressure on housing.

    My plan is to let the October-calving cows slip back to calve in January. The August-calving cows will be sold with their calf at foot this autumn or possibly next spring. It will depend on housing space. A new shed is being built at the moment. If it is ready in time, I will winter the cows and sell them in spring. If not, they will be sold before housing.

    Reseeding

    Autumn cows are currently grazing 14 acres of rougher land that I want to reseed this month. Cows will be moved home to calve, with the ground sprayed off with glyphosate and ploughed. If weather permits, it will be sowed before the end of the month, giving the field a good chance to establish before winter. Store lambs can give the reseed a light grazing to help it tiller out.

    Breeding season

    Ideally, I would have stocks bulls removed from the spring-calving cows, given that they have been out since 1 May. Unfortunately, two of the bulls got injured during the season and one had to be replaced at short notice. I was concerned that taking bulls out on 1 August would leave me with a significant number of cows not in-calf, so will leave the bulls with cows until later this month. Cows will then be scanned. In total, 59 cows were running with Limousin, Simmental and Angus bulls in three groups, with the bulls rotated around the batches. I also have 36 heifers that will calve down at 24 months next spring. I synchronised 27 heifers in two groups. The first group of 17 heifers was served by AI using the Angus bull Americano. Only three animals in this group repeated. The second group of 10 heifers were less successful, with half of them repeating. These heifers were that bit younger and lighter, which may have affected conception rates. They ran with an Angus bull after AI.

    Investing in new handling facilities

    My suckler herd has been expanding over the past few years and the plan is to run 110 spring-calving cows.

    However, facilities on the farm are now coming under pressure and housing space was at capacity last winter.

    Handling facilities also need upgrading to allow me to handle extra numbers and improve safety.

    Therefore, I have taken the decision to make a couple of major investments for the farm.

    A new cattle shed is being built to increase housing space.

    Cattle are housed between two yards and having the new shed will allow me to keep cows at the main yard.

    The shed is approximately 80ft wide and measures 105ft long. It will have one central feed passage.

    On one side of the shed will be concrete slatted pens to house dry stock. On the other side will be a split floor with slats and a straw lie-back.

    This will be used to house early-calving cows and calves, as well as intensively finishing bulls. Progress has been good to date.

    Two storage tanks were dug out in early June. Both tanks are now complete and slats have been installed.

    Shuttered walls have also been constructed. The shed is now ready for steel and concreting floors.

    The roof will have an open ridge to aid ventilation, with spacing between perimeter walls and tin to increase the intake of air.

    Hopefully, the shed will be completed in time before the winter.

    Handling unit

    Along with a new shed, I am building a new cattle handling unit.

    The old cattle race is just not practical any more for working with bigger stock numbers.

    The new unit is 30ft wide and 75ft long, 60ft of which will be under a roof. Construction started in early July.

    The steel frame has been erected and internal drafting gates and a circular forcing pen are in place.

    The cattle race is also set up, with the crush gate ready to go in. Concrete floors were poured late last week.

    The new cattle race will include a weigh cell and animals can be accessed from both sides.

    I am putting in a raised platform to allow people work with animals safely without having to climb on bars to reach them.

    Pens and internal gates will also be suitable to work with lambs. The circular forcing pen is covered with stock board to help with animal movement.

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