Most farms have now housed the majority, if not all of their animals, including their maiden and in-calf heifers.

In-calf heifers are at a very important stage of their development, as the next time they go to grass they will be part of the milking herd.

These heifers are about to go through a major event, so ensuring they are in the right condition is important.

Treatment

Around housing is a good time to treat both heifers and cows for any parasites they may be carrying.

This could include stomach worms, lungworms, fluke, or external parasites such as lice and more.

Animals cannot pick up a new parasite infection when housed. Dung samples should be taken to determine if there is a parasite burden. If noe is found, heifers should not be treated for parasites.

Treating heifers that do not have a parasite burden is wasteful, expensive and aids anti-parasitic resistance.

In-calf heifers

It is important to continue to monitor the growth of heifers during the housed period.

This is particularly important for heifers that have now returned from contract-rearing farms.

These heifers are the next generation entering the herd and it is important that they get off to the best possible start on the farm

If heifers are calving below target weight, this may have an impact on their performance and fertility.

Heifers that are at the correct weight ahead of calving need to be fed high-quality silage ad-lib, to ensure they continue to grow.

Parlour training

One job that all dairy farmers should consider doing in the parlour is training their heifers.

Calving is an extremely stressful period for heifers and introducing them to a new environment like the milking parlour will only increase this further.

Most farmers have their own way of training heifers, but the most important part is ensuring that the heifers are not forced into the parlour.

Farmers should try to make entering the parlour a positive experience for the animals and forcing them in or shouting at them will not result in this.

Training should start by leaving the heifers in the collecting yard with the back and front gates of the parlour open, which will allow them to walk through.

Once they are comfortable you can close the front gate and start feeding a small amount of concentrates. Then, once the heifers are comfortable in the parlour, the machine should be started to allow the heifers to become familiar with the noise in the parlour.

This should be done over a period of time – not all in the one day.