Housing time has arrived for the 400 or more 2023-born cattle on the ABP Demo Farm and with this in mind, ABP’s Advantage Beef Programme officer Sean Maher has outlined the protocol for housing the 2023-born cattle on the farm.
He explained that Storm Babet made grazing difficult and with this week’s rain forecast, the decision was made to house the calves earlier this week.
Housing weights for the 2023-born cattle are expected to be back slightly on the previous years due to the challenging weather conditions experienced throughout this grazing season.
All of these cattle have received their pneumonia booster vaccine in the last few weeks which will cover them for the winter months.
Sean said the pneumonia booster vaccine “is incredibly important and worthwhile over the last number of years with no treatment necessary once animals are housed”.
The plan was originally to start housing the smallest and youngest calves first, but with the heavy rain that arrived, all calves were housed.
Calves have been housed in sheds with both slats and access to a straw-bedded lie-back. Moving cattle into the shed gradually is advisable, where possible, to reduce stress levels.
“While it may not always be possible, housing cattle when their backs are dry is also advisable,” Sean explained.
Upon housing, all animals on the ABP Demo Farm have the hair on their backs and tails clipped and then receive a pour-on lice treatment. It is important to select a lice treatment that treats both sucking lice and biting lice and remember a secondary lice treatment may be necessary later in the year.
Sean said: “Clipping cattle helps with controlling the spread of lice and also stops the animals from sweating as they are naturally cooler.
“Another helpful way of avoiding stress at housing is to house groups together. Mixing of cattle groups is not recommended and may be a further stressor on the animal’s immune system.”
Dung samples will be taken to see if there is need for a further wormer. With the wet year, fluke is suspected to be an issue.
“It’s important to consult your vet and put a plan in place for winter animal health,” Sean said.
Winter feed on ABP Demo Farm
The farm has made over 220 bales of red clover silage this year which will form a very important part of the winter diet.
The aim is to reduce the amount of imported protein used on the farm and the red clover has been very successful in doing that.
The farm is awaiting the results of this year’s samples. The yearling diet this winter will be made up of grass silage, red-clover silage and concentrates.
Lowering the protein content of the concentrate feed will reduce the ration cost while also reducing the farm’s carbon footprint.
First cut (April 26) Second cut (June 14) Third cut (July 19) Fourth cut (August 26) Dry matter (%) 42.9 38.3 34.7 29.7 Protein (%) 17 15.6 20.1 20.5 Sugar (%) 5.1 1.3 1 1 Intake Potential (%) 130 110 123 117
Once cattle have been housed and housing weights have been recorded, cattle performance over the summer of 2023 will be analysed on the farm.
The ABP Demo Farm will be looking at all aspects of animal performance over the winter months to identify weaknesses and areas to improve.
Factors to consider are:
- Which calves performed the best?
- What farm did they come from?
- How long on average were they on milk?
“These are just some of the questions we will be asking ourselves as we strive to improve performance each year,” Sean said.