Beef and sheep notes September 2008

Farmers’ intent on marketing calves at the autumn sales should act now to ensure calves are best placed to attract a premium price. Where poor weather conditions have resulted in reduced grass utilisation and quality, the use of calf creep will significantly increase performance.

For every 4KG meal offered a calf can gain 1KG additional liveweight. This will help reduce the calf’s dependence on milk and reduce stress levels at weaning. This has the added benefit of making the calf more saleable and easier to manage after weaning. Meal should be started four to six weeks in advance of weaning and built up to about 1.5 KG/head/day at the point of weaning.

Weaning and transport to and from a livestock market will cause stress leaving suckled calves more susceptible to disease. Vaccination against certain types of pneumonia is a worthwhile option to consider particularly if pasteurella pneumonia is the main problem. Consult with your Veterinary Surgeon for advice on the control of respiratory diseases. Most vaccines require two doses around three weeks apart, therefore, you will need to plan their use well before housing or sale.

Check stock management details with the seller before purchase.  If weanlings have not been vaccinated, discuss a preventative programme with your vet.

On arrival from the mart, put weanlings in a well-ventilated straw-bedded shed with access to clean, fresh water and do not mix with other cattle. Next day, put them into a well-fenced and sheltered field with a good supply of grass. Leave them outside for as long as possible and introduce meals gradually feeding silage or hay as grass becomes scarce.

Dose all weanlings, including home-reared animals, at housing with an anthelmintic effective against Type II Ostertagia, to control stomach worms and hoose.

Grass tetany can be a problem in suckler cows in the autumn. To prevent this, provide a readily available magnesium supplement during the danger period, especially after weaning.

A homemade mixture of calcined magnesite and molasses in equal parts by weight is satisfactory. Place the mixture in a number of containers around the fields to encourage intake. Stir the mixture daily to prevent separation.

There may be heavy covers of grass in some areas due to the prolonged wet spell.  These areas need to be carefully managed to maximise liveweight gain while avoiding damage by poaching. The following guidelines will help:

If silage stocks are going to be low on the farm this winter, prioritise silage towards the most productive animals.  Pregnancy diagnose cows and aim to cull empty cows as soon as possible.   Consider selling forward store animals rather than productive cows.

Once the flock is gathered and selected for the new mating season (after culling for mastitis, prolapses, broken mouths etc), body condition has to be assessed. Thin ewes (Body Condition Score less than 3) should graze leafy pasture for seven to eight weeks, which will put on about one condition score. Ewes in hard condition, 3 - 3.5, should be confined at about 30 – 38 per hectare (12 – 15 per acre)  to just maintain condition. Fat ewes should graze at 60 – 75 per hectare (25 - 30 per acre) to reduce condition. The general practice of confining all ewes after weaning to flushing is not good management. Two weeks before mating all the ewes should be changed to a fresh leafy pasture grazing at 25 ewes per hectare (10 ewes per acre) to ensure maximum ovulation rate and a higher lamb crop next spring.