Weather woes affecting BETTER Farms

Heavy rainfall and low grass growth are having a serious impact on the BETTER Farms. Some of the farmers who did manage to get cattle out to grass last month have had to re-house animals, which has placed additional strain on cattle housing.

With spring calving more than halfway through for most farms, providing adequate housing space for cows and calves is becoming a big issue.

In most cases where purpose-built housing is at full capacity, temporary housing is being provided using roofed silos with straw-bedded flooring.

Quality

Where possible, the best quality silage available on farm is being directed to calved cows to support lactation. Lower quality fodder is being targeted to in-calf cows, autumn cows that have been weaned and store cattle that will be returned to grass. Fodder budgets were carried in autumn 2017 and reviewed in early 2018. While silage reserves are running low, action has been taken early to have enough fodder in store until late April.

Some farmers who were running low on fodder have since taken the opportunity to buy in additional silage and straw, while others are making use of concentrates to stretch silage reserves.

Stocking rates are high in sheds and, to minimise the risk of a scour outbreak, the farmers are also trying to keep bedding clean and dry for calves by regularly applying fresh straw.

Week in review

Weather delaying turnout of cattle

We are busy with spring calving which started on 14 February with six heifers calving to AI sires. The cows started calving on 5 March. My suckler herd is in an expansion phase, and this year, I have 69 cows and heifers calving which is the largest number of cows I have had.

Calving has been progressing well, with the odd issue here and there. So far, I have 47 cows calved, with 45 cows and live calves on the ground. I lost one cow which went down after calving and her calf.

A heifer that calved had no milk, so I have removed her calf and fostered it on to another cow that had lost her calf. The heifer is now being fattened and will be sold in the coming weeks.

This leaves me with 22 cows to calve down and the majority of them should be calved by the end of April.

I ran Angus and Stabiliser stock bulls last year with the majority of the cows. There was some AI used on a small group of cows, but only one animal held. Both bulls are proving to be easy calving.

Heifers were also inseminated after a synchronisation programme and the Stabiliser bull was used as a sweeper.

Ideally, I would like to be slipping cows and calves out to grass within a couple of days of calving, but the weather has prevented this from happening. Ground is saturated and grass growth is low with very little cover present.

Instead, cows and calves are being housed in a new cattle shed which has plenty of lying space for calves in the creep areas. Cows are then penned on slats, which is a big saving on bedding.

The new shed has been a huge advantage this year in more ways than one. With cows all housed under one roof, less time is spent feeding them compared with previous years when cows where housed in different sheds and two yards.

Compact calving

With the calving pattern tightening significantly, there is greater pressure on housing as cows cannot go to grass yet.

Along with housing in-calf and calved cows, I also have calving pens set up in the shed, which makes it easier to move cows once they start calving.

While compact calving does increase the workload, it is for a short period and the benefits definitely outweigh the negatives when it comes to herd management and finishing cattle.

Cow management

Prior to calving, cows are on ad-lib silage and minerals, which is just dusted over the fodder. Pre-calving minerals that are high in vitamin E are being used. After calving, mature cows are being offered ad-lib silage only as quality is good at 75 D-Value. However, heifers are being supplemented with 2kg of a 15.5% protein growing ration. As heifers are calving at 24 months, they are getting extra attention post-calving. Feeding concentrates will increase energy intake for milk production and hopefully follow through to improved fertility.

Fodder reserves running low

I think I should have enough silage in store to last to the end of this month. While I am running low on 2017 silage, I have an older pit of 2015 silage that is being used for feeding dry cows and stores that are going back to grass.

I reckon I would have enough high-quality silage to last two weeks, then all cows will have to move on to the older forage.

There is approximately 100t of silage on farm and it will be needed, as it is unlikely that any stock will be able to go to grass soon. I spread fertiliser early last week, in the hope that milder weather would improve grass growth.

Grazing ground is bare as the result of winter grazing sheep. They were brought in to clean off heavy covers built up last autumn, but were left on grazing ground to February and in hindsight, they should have been moved earlier to build covers.

Grazing

Along with cows, I have 24 yearling heifers to go to grass. I had hoped to get these animal out to grass in March, similar to last year, so that they are settled before the breeding season.

I am planning to breed 20 to 22 heifers to AI, so they will be grazed in fields beside the yard for handling.

Concentrates have now been cut from their diet to get them ready for grazing. As AI works best when heifers are not stressed, I am considering feeding a small quantity of meal in a trough on a laneway during the breeding period.

This way, heifers can be easily slipped into the yard for inseminating and let back to grass.

Read more

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