Sucklers calving in June

Muckit

Reading John Shirley's article there in the Farming independent yesterday.

He talks of a suckler farmer that swears by having his cows calving in June.

http://www.google.ie/url?q=http://www.independent.ie/farming/beef/june-calving-may-not-be-advised-but-it-can-work-2549997.html&sa=U&ei=bytlTb3vK4iChQeApaiFBw&ved=0CA8QFjAA&usg=AFQjCNEXTgoWIGfqlGHMFYpjBrxiPbHTgQ

Anyone read the article, what did ye think?

Nutcase

Yeah read that article alright he was getting great wieght gains from them anyways bulls at 13 months averaging 600kgs sure thats around 1.4kg/day with hardly any meal bill!!
I think it would suit people with wetter ground that cant get cows out to grass early in the spring, as it said he was in no real rush to let his cows out weanlings were the priority stock for grass in spring.

Muckit

I suppose it's the kind of system we run ourselves. We never had cows calving early, just because we've a wet farm and limited amount of shed space.

Liked the article because it's just what it's something like I was thinking of doing this year. I've recently reseeded land away from the house which I usually only use for silage ground and aftergrass (because of distance, it's small size and no crush for AI'ing cows.

However, this year I intend to divide it up temporaily with elec fence into 6 paddocks, run hydrodare along by fence and add an extra 2 water troughs. Then rotate the weanlings on this. Keep the cows near home on the wetter land for AI'ing. Have some ground near home that can take silage off. It'I be interesting for myself to see what weight I can put on them with the new grass.

locky76

I do this system myself give or take, they calve from the end of May for a 10/12 week period.
I get them into the shed around the start of November and give the calves roughly 1.5kg of meal per day in the creep area.
They still suckle the cows on the slats.
An extra thing i do is scan the cows early on after the bull has been with them (8 weeks) and i leave the calf with the cow up till 10 weeks before they're due again so the calf is getting on average 42 weeks of milk.
When they're weaned i graze the weanlings ahead of the cows which means the weanlings are getting the best of grass and the cows are limited as they're only getting the leftovers (leader/follower system)
Limiting the cows means that the calves fall out of them, it's an angus bull and i've seen one cow calve in three years.
Minimum labour and low enough input costs and cattle weights always look good in comparison to journal weights.

Muckit wrote: »

Reading John Shirley's article there in the Farming independent yesterday.

He talks of a suckler farmer that swears by having his cows calving in June.

http://www.google.ie/url?q=http://www.independent.ie/farming/beef/june-calving-may-not-be-advised-but-it-can-work-2549997.html&sa=U&ei=bytlTb3vK4iChQeApaiFBw&ved=0CA8QFjAA&usg=AFQjCNEXTgoWIGfqlGHMFYpjBrxiPbHTgQ

Anyone read the article, what did ye think?

just do it

locky76 wrote: »

I get them into the shed around the start of November and give the calves roughly 1.5kg of meal per day in the creep area.
They still suckle the cows on the slats.

I'm moving towards this system with all mine starting calving in mid-July this year with the last one to calf on Nov 1st. It's still a wide spread and I want to move it back to a 10/12 week period starting mid June.

My query is about the creep area. What bedding are you using? The calves being that bit stronger are ploughing through the straw bed I have for them, and the younger ones are getting scour if I don't keep it fresh. I'll keep with it at this stage for this year but want to get something else in place for next winter.

The journal recently had home made calf hunches for dairy calves outside. I was thinking of stealing part of the design i.e. a floor made up of 2x1 timber slats on 6 inch timbers to keep it up off floor.

pakalasa

just do it wrote: »

.....The journal recently had home made calf hunches for dairy calves outside. I was thinking of stealing part of the design i.e. a floor made up of 2x1 timber slats on 6 inch timbers to keep it up off floor.

In fairness, they looked like a great idea. Plenty of fresh air. All calves want at the end of the day, is a dry bed and a bit of shelter.

irishh_bob

i take it this farmer doesnt let his incalf cows out at all in the spring or at least not untill thier on the point of calving , seems like a large fodder bill would be the result

locky76

just do it wrote: »

I'm moving towards this system with all mine starting calving in mid-July this year with the last one to calf on Nov 1st. It's still a wide spread and I want to move it back to a 10/12 week period starting mid June.

My query is about the creep area. What bedding are you using? The calves being that bit stronger are ploughing through the straw bed I have for them, and the younger ones are getting scour if I don't keep it fresh. I'll keep with it at this stage for this year but want to get something else in place for next winter.

The journal recently had home made calf hunches for dairy calves outside. I was thinking of stealing part of the design i.e. a floor made up of 2x1 timber slats on 6 inch timbers to keep it up off floor.

i use straw, i use about 1.5 bales per week.
i got 12 bales of rushes this year which i used first off to put down as a base along with the straw.
the minslats for the calves sound like a plan.
i put down slat mats this year and the calves are spending more time on the slats.
they go out to the straw for the meal in the evening mainly.

just do it

locky76 wrote: »

i use straw, i use about 1.5 bales per week.
i got 12 bales of rushes this year which i used first off to put down as a base along with the straw.

I take it you just put it on top on the old stuff and only clean it out once a year? And one final question, how may calves does that cover?

I got the slat mats as well this year and they're great. 2 cows in particular that were getting v lame last year are thriving this year. No lame cow at all now that I think of it. They're very comfortable on them. I reckon I'll get an extra 1 or 2 years out of each cow because of them so they'll more than pay for themselves. Not to mention the nuisance of nursing the lame ones, in and out of the shed for the last month or two of housing.

Anyone see these in use (see pic)? Advertised in the journal. Supposedly no need for any extra bedding. More pics at http://www.comfortslatmat.com/gallery

blue5000

irishh_bob wrote: »

i take it this farmer doesnt let his incalf cows out at all in the spring or at least not untill thier on the point of calving , seems like a large fodder bill would be the result

Thet are out, but grazed v tight after yearlings I think

Bodacious

locky76 wrote: »

i use straw, i use about 1.5 bales per week.
i got 12 bales of rushes this year which i used first off to put down as a base along with the straw.


Hi Locky,

Would you not be afraid of a "rushes epidemic" when you spread that bedding on your land? Something crazy like 60,000 seeds in one rush or something like that

locky76

just do it wrote: »

I take it you just put it on top on the old stuff and only clean it out once a year? And one final question, how may calves does that cover?

I got the slat mats as well this year and they're great. 2 cows in particular that were getting v lame last year are thriving this year. No lame cow at all now that I think of it. They're very comfortable on them. I reckon I'll get an extra 1 or 2 years out of each cow because of them so they'll more than pay for themselves. Not to mention the nuisance of nursing the lame ones, in and out of the shed for the last month or two of housing.

Anyone see these in use (see pic)? Advertised in the journal. Supposedly no need for any extra bedding. More pics at http://www.comfortslatmat.com/gallery

It's roughly a bale per calf per winter so €20 per calf.

locky76

Bodacious wrote: »

locky76 wrote: »

i use straw, i use about 1.5 bales per week.
i got 12 bales of rushes this year which i used first off to put down as a base along with the straw.


Hi Locky,

Would you not be afraid of a "rushes epidemic" when you spread that bedding on your land? Something crazy like 60,000 seeds in one rush or something like that

Bodacious,

i had not considered it, i talked to a few mated who used it as well and they are not concerned as the straw won't be spread until next September and it'll be spread on good dry land so here's hoping i won't poison the land!!!

just do it

locky76 wrote: »

Bodacious wrote: »

Bodacious,

i had not considered it, i talked to a few mated who used it as well and they are not concerned as the straw won't be spread until next September and it'll be spread on good dry land so here's hoping i won't poison the land!!!

You'd think the seeds would be long dead by then...

Bodacious

locky76 wrote: »

Bodacious wrote: »

Bodacious,

i had not considered it, i talked to a few mated who used it as well and they are not concerned as the straw won't be spread until next September and it'll be spread on good dry land so here's hoping i won't poison the land!!!

As Just Do It has said you'd hope they would be dead by then but i honestly dont know... but as you say even if a few did germinate on good free draining soils a quick rub of the weed licker/sprayer with MCPA would sort them and put it down as a lesson learned where they came from!!:)

darraghdoc

hi

Tipp farm hand

locky76 wrote: »

I do this system myself give or take, they calve from the end of May for a 10/12 week period.
I get them into the shed around the start of November and give the calves roughly 1.5kg of meal per day in the creep area.
They still suckle the cows on the slats.
An extra thing i do is scan the cows early on after the bull has been with them (8 weeks) and i leave the calf with the cow up till 10 weeks before they're due again so the calf is getting on average 42 weeks of milk.
When they're weaned i graze the weanlings ahead of the cows which means the weanlings are getting the best of grass and the cows are limited as they're only getting the leftovers (leader/follower system)
Limiting the cows means that the calves fall out of them, it's an angus bull and i've seen one cow calve in three years.
Minimum labour and low enough input costs and cattle weights always look good in comparison to journal weights.

I like the sound of your system, as im working full time off the farm i find the going hard at the minute with calving. I have a limousine bull running with the 42 cows and finnish to factory. scanned the cows and dates range from jan to aug, I like the ida of calving out in june july but how to implement this system is my problem. dont think i can keep the current operation going into the future.