General Details
- Results from the Regional Veterinary Lab on the first cow who aborted came back as in-conclusive. The second cow who aborted had a bacterial infection and this caused her to abort the calf.
- These cows will be fattened and culled out of the herd
- An Agricultural student has started his 3 months work placement on the farm.
- The yearling replacement heifers were weighed on the 12th January. Summary as follows:
- There are 16 yearling heifers getting no meal and are consuming 82% DMD round bale silage and their average weight is 316 Kgs.
- The remaining lighter 10 heifers are on 1.5 Kgs of weanling ration @ 16% protein plus ad-lib silage.
- Aim to turnout these yearling heifers to grass roughly 14th February on the contract rearing farm in Tuam.
- First of the cows due to calf in 2018 and the in –calf replacement heifers have received their Rotavec Corona vaccination (8th January).
- 86 cows and 22 in-calf heifers to calf down in Newford this spring.
- All cows are on pre-calving minerals.
- All cows body condition is been monitored on a weekly basics.
- The pen of cows, which had a lower body condition score are still on 2Kgs of Soya Hulls.
Key Recommendations
- Prepare sheds for calving.
- Monitor slurry levels in the tanks.
- Check all calving equipment and purchase any materials required for calving (Plastic gloves, Gel, Spare Calving Jack Ropes, and Disinfection etc.).
- Watch out for any health issues with the cows.
- Monitor condition of the in-calf heifers.