It is essential to get off to the best possible start for 2025, and the dairy advice is that the preparation for a good start to the year has already started and needs to continue that way.
The 2024 season has not been an easy one for dairy farmers across the country, with a poor, wet spring starting off the year, followed by a poor grass growing summer and poor milk price in the first half of the year.
Decisions will need to be made over the next couple of weeks to ensure that the 2024 season finishes off on a high, while making sure you are well set up for calving the following spring.
There is roughly six to eight weeks left of milking for the majority of the herd with potentially some skinny cows and first lactation heifers getting dried off before that.
Dairy advice
The autumn has been relatively dry, which has left ground conditions quite favourable for farmers as most cows in the country are still out at grass, even if it is just by day.
Farmers should not forget that spring grass is twice as valuable to cows than it is at autumn, so, farmers should see out the final rotation but should not be tempted to start into a new rotation or even go back into one or two paddocks.
By now, about 70% of the farm should be closed off and covers should be building on the paddocks that have been grazed throughout October and this should be the grass readily available for the spring time.
More often than not, it is the weather that puts the cows back inside for the winter, but those who can stay out grazing should aim to pull a plug on grazing once the average farm cover (AFC) hits 650kg/ha, according to Teagasc.
It is not enough to say that every cow needs eight weeks of dry off, as every cow is going to have a different condition and parity, and drying off should be done relative to those factors.
A first lactation, cows should be given a dry off of about 12 weeks, which is relatively soon if calving in early February, and likewise for cows who are under condition.
These cows should be treated well and given silage of at least 70% dry matter digestibility (DMD) to ensure they are calving down with a body condition score (BCS) of 3 to 3.25.
Drying off needs to be done with diligence, hygiene and care in order to effectively dry off each quarter properly, without doing damage to the quarters and giving rise to mastitis and high somatic cell count (SCC).
Cows should be dried off in small groups to make it a quick and easy process and be put out to a clean, dry paddock, but more often than not, it will be in to cubicle shed – so ensure that cubicles are spotless, with lime spread in abundance.
Another thing that a farmer must consider, is getting away from the farm for a few days once the cows are dried off or even take it easy for a bit in order to get yourself well rested for the spring ahead.
One of the most important aspects of dairy advice, is that farmers should try and get organised with staff for the spring ahead, as the last thing you want is to be short staffed when cows are calving down and there’s a million things to be doing.