John Barry July/August Update 2024
Autumn calving is due to start this month
- Autumn calvers are due from 12th August
- Management pre-calving
- Update on spring herd
Feed plans for the winter
- Fodder budget updated
- Sale of cattle has helped to reduce demand
- John will have to make up 115 extra bales of silage to have enough feed for the winter
Dock beetle discovery
- New discovery of the dock beetle
- Will not kill plant completely but feeds on dock leaf
- See photo below – have you seen it on your farm?
Breeding
Autumn calving suits John as the cows are at grass which reduces labour for feeding and bedding versus the spring herd. It also helps with cash flow on the farm as stores can be sold throughout the year. The 7 autumn heifers and 20 autumn cows are expected to start calving between 12th August and early November.
Figure 1: Cull cows are being restricted at grass to avoid becoming over-fat
The cows are being managed as follows;
- Weaning: Took place in early June.
- Diet: Grazing paddocks after the spring herd to maintain body condition.
- Minerals: 100g/head/day powder minerals fed with oats in blue barrels in field.
- Vaccinations: IBR booster given at least 3 weeks pre-calving and leptospirosis vaccine will be given at least 2 weeks pre-breeding.
- Health: Pour-on given to deter flies and help prevent mastitis, no dosing.
John has the calving pens cleaned and disinfected and has checked that his calving camera and jack are working. Frozen biestings are available if required and he has iodine, ropes, a feeding bottle, lubricant and PPE available. Calf tags have also been ordered.
After calving the cows stay at grass with their calves full time until housing for the winter. Once housed they will be fed the best quality silage which is balanced for energy and protein with approx. 1kg of ration, depending on silage sample results.
The calves have access to grass full time and come in and out of a creep area in the slatted shed to the cows. John finds that this helps the cows come back cycling quicker by breaking the cow/calf bond. Breeding starts on 1st November and finishes at the end of January, with AI used for most of the season and the stock bull mops up for the final few weeks.
Breeding is finished for the spring herd as the bull was removed at the end of July. 12 cows that were not bred were identified in early July. Four of these were synchronised and AI’d when they came on heat. The other 6 were injected with prostaglandin which brought some of them cycling but not all. John will scan in late August/September so that he can identify any cull cows that did not go in calf.
Figure 2: Breeding has now finished for the spring herd
Animal Nutrition
John has updated his fodder budget for the winter. He had previously planned to have 80 cows, 30 calves, 47 weanlings, 1 bull and 55 store cattle for a 5 month winter. However he was very aware in June that he would struggle to have enough feed for the winter – partially due to a later first cut and partially due to poor re-growths on his second cut silage ground.
Therefore he started selling stock to reduce demand for next winter while the live prices were good.
He now expects to have 70 cows, 28 calves, 38 weanlings, 1 bull and 30 store cattle for the coming winter. This reduces his demand to 934 bales for a 5 month winter, according to the ‘fodder available’ budget on Pasturebase. He has 414 bales of silage made to date and has a further 20 bales left over from 2023, meaning that he will still need to make 500 bales. 55 acre are currently closed for silage and at an average yield of 7 bales per acre John expects to make 385 bales from this. He also has the option to take a third cut of silage from some fields and will take out any surplus paddocks where possible to make a further 115 bales.
A further 19 heifers, 8 yearlings and cull cows are yet to be sold before Christmas so this will help to reduce demand at grass, and give John the opportunity to make the extra silage. Making the decision to sell stock early has been a huge benefit to him.
Figure 3: Some of the store heifers that will be sold
Two of the second cut silage fields have been slow to grow, even after receiving 2 bags of 27-2.5-5 per acre so John will top these up with a further 30 units of nitrogen per acre.
Biodiversity
John has recently discovered that he has dock beetle on his farm! It was found in one of his silage fields, which is at a higher altitude than the rest of the farm.
It is a small, shiny-coloured beetle that feeds on curled and broad-leaved docks. It overwinters as an adult and emerges in April, where it lays eggs on the underside of leaves. Up to 3 generations are possible each year and they can remove 45% of the leaf area of a dock. Unfortunately even with intensive defoliation, dock roots recover and are not killed.
However in the meantime the beetle and its larvae will help reduce the amount of docks in John’s silage crop. The beetles only travel 3 to 7 metres but John also has the option to manually transport some to his grazing paddocks.
Figure 4: John has discovered that the dock beetle is in action on his farm