The calf needed assistance and was taken using the jack but was up sucking inside one hour of hitting the ground.

Plans are being put in place on ahead of the a busy calving period which is due to start on 4 February. In total there are 100 cows set to calve in 2018 48 of which are due to calve in February.

Heifers are due to calve to a combination of Saler and Aberdeen Angus AI bulls and an Aberdeen Angus stock bull. Mature cows are in calf to a mix of Simmental, Limousin and Saler AI bulls and the Limousin stock bull.

The 25 cows that are due to calve in early February have been moved into a straw-bedded shed with access to a feeding area on slats. Calving supervision will be monitored via a calving camera and Moocall calving sensor. Once calved, cows will spend as long as possible in calving pens, depending on space requirements.

The first animals due are four in-calf heifers which were purchased two weeks ago. These are Limousin X heifers from the dairy herd, two years old and in-calf to a pedigree Aberdeen Angus stock bull.They cost €1,340 each.

Diet

Cows have all been vaccinated for scour and have been fed 100 grams/day of dry cow minerals on top of silage for the past eight weeks. Silage quality was lower than expected at 62DMD and cows are being fed ad-lib silage for the duration of the winter. Cows are also getting 0.5kg/day of soya bean meal to increase the protein concentration of the diet and hopefully increase both the quality and volume of colostrum.

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All reports from Tullamore Farm