General Detail
- 101 cows and calves at grass on the home farm, plus 5 cull cows which will not be AI this year.
- 90 % of the herd was now been AI within 3 weeks of the breeding season commencing (23rd April).
- 94 cows have now been inseminated to date , Friday 18th May
- 5 repeats to date , Friday 18th May
- Once a day AI used, cows are being inseminated at midday each day.
- Cows (10) which had shown no signs of coming into heat cycle were treated with Estrumate this week to encourage them to cycle.
- 8 cows were treated with Estrumate and 4 came bulling since
- 2 cows were only 29 days calved and were not treated
- After treatment any cow that does not shows of heat, will be check and scanned by the vet and treated accordingly
- 84 % of the Replacement heifers (21) bred to AI on the contract rearing farm in Tuam out of 25 heifers within 3 weeks. AI also started on the 23rd of April with the replacement heifers
- A selection of Newford animals.
- Mineral buckets are out in the paddocks with the cows to prevent grass tetany
- Grass cover taken last Monday the 14th of May.
- 3 hectares of surplus grazing paddocks were taken out this week for round bales
- I bag of Can +S per acre is been spread after each grazing on the GortnaHabhainn farm
- Newford started its 3rd rotation this week on the home farm.
- Weather conditions and utilisation of grass are improving. But some paddocks are still very soft and wet.
- 25 units of N is been spread after each paddock which has been grazed in Newford and Touhy’s
- The below diagram shows how difficult spring grass growth this year is, as compared to 2017.
- 2018 grass growth is the green line
Key recommendations for this week
- Monitor all cows regularly for heat detection
- Watch out for Grass Tetany and keep mineral buckets topped up
- Power wash sheds
- Keep the teaser bull’s chin ball harness topped up with paint
- Watch the estruses cows closely after treatment