This time of year offers farmers the chance to get some jobs on their farm to-do list started – or completed.
Farms are nearly always busy, although there are certain times that are busier than others. The end of June and beginning of July usually means there is a little bit of a lull in the workload, making now a great time to whip out that list.
Farm buildings
One of the jobs that can be started now is power washing the cubicles. You could pick a number to complete each day; they do not all need to be done in the one day.
Although the use of water is not recommended during the calving season to clean calf and calving sheds,they should be power washed or steam washed before next year’s calving season begins.
The end of June/beginning of July offers farmers the opportunity to start/complete this job before second-cut silage.
Similar to the cubicle shed, it does not need to be done in the one day. Power/steam washing helps with the removal of residual bacteria that may be present in the sheds.
Once these sheds have been power/steam washed, it is important to ensure disinfectant such as lime is spread, to prevent bacteria from returning. If there was an issue with a particular bacteria, a specific product to target that bacteria should be used.
Another job around the yard that may require attention is the inspection of the farm’s buildings.
Do your farm buildings require some new tin? Are the water troughs still functional? Is there anything damaged or broken? Did you identify an issue earlier in the year and is now a good opportunity to fix it? These are all questions to ask.
One such thing that often gets broken on-farm is the gutter downpipes, with the water then making its way into slurry tanks rather than being diverted.
Grazing
The grazing season is well under way on farms; the season was slow to start but has since kicked into high gear, with some exceptional growth rates being seen.
Many farmers may now have identified areas of grazing infrastructure that require improvement.
These could include: low power in fences, the need for more entrances to paddocks, an under-preforming water system and replacing damaged posts.
These areas identified as needing improvement should be addressed quickly, to avoid issues developing in the future.
January 2021 saw the introduction of new rules for farm roadways. Under the new legislation, farms must prevent direct run-off of soiled water from farm roadways into water courses.
Now may be a good opportunity to ensure that your roadways are compliant with the new legislation.
It also offers a good chance to repair any damage that many have happened to the roadways and/or extend roadways to allow better access to grazing.
General farm to-do list
Some other jobs that can now be completed, before the pressure comes on again, include making contact with tillage farmers regarding straw for calving 2022.
Although you may think it is too early to start thinking about that yet, similar to livestock farmers, tillage farmers get busy during harvest – so making contact early will help with the acquisition of bales later in the year.
Building a good relationship now with a local tillage farmer (if possible) will make getting bales of straw in the future easier.
Finally, for many farms the stock bull has been left out with the cows – unfortunately, this does not mean that your work for the breeding season is over.
You should continue to monitor cows as they come into the parlour for heats, a bull can easily pick up an injury or become sub/infertile during the breeding season.
So continued monitoring is advised to avoid a costly mistake – such as a large number of cows being empty.