Newford Notes - Week of 28th March 2022

With one cow left to calve Michael Fagan, Technician at the Newford Suckler Demonstration Farm, Athenry, summarises how it all went. There are no health issues on farm and 75 cows and calves are out at grass. Cows are cycling and have been tailpainted. Two rounds of protected urea has been applied

Calving at Newford

99% of the Newford Farm suckler herd has calved as of 28^th March

• 94 animals were scanned in-calf
• One heifer which was scanned in-calf suffered early embryo loss in the first half of December
• This left 93 cows to calve down once the calving season started
• 99% of the Newford herd calved over a period of just 60 days (28^th March) with the first cow calving on the 27^th of January.
• 92 cows out of 93 in-calf animals calved up to 28th March (including two sets of twins)
  • There are 88 live calves on the ground
  • This means there has been six cases of calf mortality
    • Four cases have been attributed to stillbirths
    • One calf died during a vet caesarean section
    • One calf died two weeks after being born.
• There is one cow left to calve as of 28^th of March
• Calves are being disbudded and are receiving treatment for coccidiosis as they come of age
• They are also receiving their IBR and clostridial disease vaccination and the older calves have  received their booster shot
• At this moment in time there are no health issues to report on the farm
• The average weight of all calves born to-date is 42 kg
• The average calving score is 20 and a detailed breakdown is listed below

First calver with her Ewdenvale Ivor male calf , born on the 30^th of January at 43 Kg enjoying the sunshine

•  There are 75 cows and calves at grass at the moment on the home platform. Weather conditions have been excellent over the last 10 days with good grass utilisation and super clean out of paddocks.
• The body condition score of cows will be monitored over the next few weeks to ensure it remains on target in light of the breeding season starting in under three weeks’ time ( 20^th of April)
• All cows have received their mineral bolus and leptospirosis vaccine this week
• Cows have already begun to cycle in the herd and their tag numbers are being recorded. Tail painting has also taken place this week to monitor heat activity.

•  High-mag mineral lick buckets have been placed in paddocks where cows are grazing to prevent grass tetany

Store Bullocks

The store bullocks went to grass on the 23^rd of March at 454 Kg

• They were housed for 125 days during the winter period (18^th Nov 2021)
• They were housed at 364 Kgs on the 18^th of November
• They gained 90Kg of body weight over the winter equating to an average daily gain of 0.72kg.

Newford Farm store bullocks at grass on the 23^rd of March at 454 Kgs

Grass walk

Like everywhere in the country fertiliser is like gold dust here in the west and with a struggle the farm managed to secure a few tons of protected Urea

• With so many stock out at grass demand is putting pressure on grass supplies. To enhance growth 25kg of urea per hectare was spread across all four farms on the 4^th of March and another 37kg  ( ¾ of a bag) of urea was spread on the 26^th of March
• But going forward higher allocations will be confined to the most productive paddocks to conserve tight supplies and keep costs in check.
• Cones farm received 1.5t of lime per acre in late January

More information on the Newford Herd can be found here