Although July is a great time to organise a bit of time away from the farm and spend a bit of time with your family, the dairy advice is to help set yourself up for the winter.
As we know on farms, there is always something to be done and the summer months often give us a bit more time to get a few of the less-pressing jobs completed before a busy winter closes in.
These jobs are always put off and delayed to do next week, but as well know next week becomes the week after and so on.
So, it is important to make a start at these jobs and keep tipping away at them for a few weeks before the pressure comes on and they have to be done in a panic.
Dairy advice
We are now into July and the year seems to be flying by, so now, is an ideal time for cleaning out sheds and pens to get ready for housing.
For autumn calving herds, this advice applies even more as it won’t be long until cows are getting dried off and calving down, so calf pens and housing has to be right.
You may think that the housing period is still a couple of months away yet, but at this time of the year when it is relatively quieter than usual, is a perfect opportunity to get on top of things.
The important thing is to not have yourself under pressure trying to catch up on jobs while cows are needing to be housed and eventually calving down.
Cubicle sheds should be power-washed and any repairs that are needed should be made, including the maintenance of mats, drinker or cubicles.
Organising straw
Looking forward to the housing period for calves, the dairy advice is to urge farmers to think about where they will be getting their straw from.
Now, is a good time to make contact with any tillage farmers that will have straw shortly as the harvest is not too far away and by the time harvest begins, it may be too late.
Through early contact with your tillage farmer will mean you can secure enough straw for the winter, while making life easier on the tillage farmer.
This way, the tillage farmer will have a sense of security as they know they will have a buyer for their bales.
Contacting the tillage farmer earlier in the season will give the buyer an opportunity to buy the bales at a good price.
Farm infrastructure
The farm infrastructure needs to be overlooked, also as there may be need to start looking at potential upgrades around the farm.
Cow flow or congestion at certain points may have been an issue last winter meaning that any changes that are needed around the sheds should be completed in the coming weeks.
There may not have been enough calving pens or calf areas last winter, which made the calving season stressful and busier than it should. This should be reviewed and change implemented if needs be.
Your grazing infrastructure should be reviewed at this time of the year, seeing whether the paddocks are the right size, enough entrances into the paddocks, and the roadway are in good condition.
These should be reviewed in the the next couple of weeks and a focus should be put on the changes that will give the highest return on investment first.