General Detail
- Calving activity is in full progress at the moment on Newford Farm
- 18 cows have now calved.
- 17 live calves
- 2 sets of twins
- 3 calves mortality
- One calf was stood on
- Two calves was born dead
- First of the cows and their calves have been turn out to grass into a paddock beside the yard, with easy access if they need to be housed again if the weather changes.
Mineral buckets have been place in with the cows to prevent Grass Tetany
- Fiston (FSZ) calf born on the 16th January
- 35 Kg birth weight
- Cows and calves pen to together
- Most of the yearlings are on 2 kg of meal, and this will stop in the coming days when the last of the ration is use up.
- 35 yearling heifers are not receiving any more concentrates, as these heifers may be bull later in the spring. Final decision on those heifers in the coming days will be made by the management team as too weather or not to bull them.
- Some of the paddocks on the out farm Gortnahabhainn have received over 2,000 gallons of slurry last week and if weather allows slurry will be spread on some of light cover paddocks on the home farm in the coming days.
- First of the Urea has been spread on some of the driest paddocks on the home farm ( ½ bag to the acre)
- All the weanlings have been weighted in recent days. The yearling bullocks are doing ADG of 0.65Kgs per day and the heifers are achieving an ADG of 0.58 Kgs per day since housing (9th Nov). Summary of the weights in the below table
- One of the heaviest yearling males weighted on Wednesday the 22nd of January
- Sire : FSZ
- Born : 19th February 2019
- Weight : 507 Kgs ( 22nd January)
- ADG from birth 1.33 Kgs
- ADG since housing 0.85 Kgs ( 9th Nov housing date )
- Soil temperature on Newford Farm Monday the 3rd February was 5.7 ° degrees ( 10 cm)
- This week’s grass cover was taken on the 3rd February
- Newford Farm is now closed to groups / visitors until the calving period is finished.
Key recommendations for this week
- Monitor all cows constantly as they are getting nearer to anticipated calving date.
- Initial enquiries on teaser bulls for the breeding season in 11 weeks’ time.
- Prepared for disbudding calves as they come of age.
- Order in vaccination for Clostridia, IBR and the prevention of coccidiosis
- Watch out for any health issues with the cows.
- Check new born calves health each morning and evening.
- Treated calves naval a number of times
- Keep all footbaths full with disinfection
- Check all water troughs are clean in the pens
- Monitor condition of the in-calf heifers.