Dairy
As spring calving wraps up and breeding becomes the main concern, farmers need to keep an eye on late calvers for issues such as milk fever.
As the calving season kicks off for many farms across the country, managing negative energy balances (NEB) in freshly calved cows is crucial.
Over the next few weeks, it is important to continually asses your dry cow management to ensure cows calve down in good body condition.
BCS the herd now and throughout the winter is crucial for a successful dry period and to ensure calving goes smoothly next spring.
N.Ireland
Ahead of spring calving, remember that an inadequate pre-calving diet during the dry period can have a drastic impact on calf health.
Over the coming weeks, farmers will be using milk recording data to decide which cows to need to be dried off first
As we approach the winter housing period, farmers must make spring-calving heifers a priority in an effort to achieve correct target weights
Beef
Body condition scoring (BCS) is a vital aspect of today’s farming, ensuring cows are meeting correct weight targets
Autumn calving may already have kicked off on some farms, but preparation will now be underway for herds calving from late September
Assessing the BCS of your spring-calving cows at this time of year will allow for plenty of time to sort out any cows ahead of drying off
With drying off for autumn calving herds set to take place soon, the body condition score of your herd will have to be assessed
We are now into the middle of April, which means cows are getting close to their peak milk...
Breeding season for herds calving down in late January is only a few weeks away and many will be aiming for the first week of February
It can be easy for farmers to take their eyes off the ball when balancing their herd’s diet...
The calving season is only a matter of weeks away and the risk of milk fever (hypocalcemia) and...
It can be argued that lameness is one of the main animal health and welfare issues on dairy farms,...
Now that we have entered 2025 and the Christmas period is beyond us, farmers will be thinking about...
As the Christmas period continues on, it is important to be critiquing your dry cow management and...
Many farmers have started to dry off their first calvers and their thin cows, and perhaps they should body condition score (BCS)
We are now into the middle of November, which means that the start of the breeding season for the autumn calving herd is just over...
Drying off should be relatively straightforward, but if you are not prepared for it and haven’t...
We are now entering the final few months of lactation for spring calving cows and the cows are beginning to slow down in milk production...
As cows are progressing further into the lactation, closer to drying-off and closer to the housing...
