Ensuring that the calf shed is ready for the arrival of calves should be a focus over the coming weeks on dairy farms.
For the most part, cows are now housed for the winter and preparation should be getting underway to prepare for spring 2024.
Although some will have already gotten their calf sheds ready for spring, there are some farms which will not have set preparations; now is a good time to start.
Calf shed
Preparing for the busy time should be getting underway; the majority of Irish dairy farms operate a spring-calving system.
This means that the busiest time of the year on the farm is during the spring-calving time and preventing additional work during this time should be encouraged.
Weather conditions are making it difficult to complete work outside so the focus should be on getting sheds ready.
If you have not already done so, now is an opportunity to get your calf shed power-washed or steam-washed and disinfected ready for calves.
If scour or diseases have been an issue on your farm this year, it is important to determine which form of scour/disease was present.
You should then purchase a disinfectant that is known to work against this scour-causing bacteria.
By using a disinfectant that kills the scour-causing bacteria, the issue should hopefully be eliminated and not continue to cause problems next year.
Cleaning
It is important that all areas of the calf shed are cleaned and disinfected properly; gates should be removed and thoroughly washed too.
Removing the gates and washing them in another area should also make it easier to clean the rest of the shed.
Ensure that all feeders are also cleaned, including the meal trough, hay racks and water troughs.
Furthermore, clean any steel, timber and concrete in the area where calves are housed to ensure that as little as possible disease-causing bacteria remains in the shed.
Depending on the size of your shed, you do not have to complete this cleaning all at once, it can be completed over a number of weeks.
But you need to be careful that once you have cleaned a pen, you do not continue spreading bacteria or organic material in the pen.