in calf heifers

warfie35

Av 15 in calf fr heifers slightly behind target weights, due to start calving early Feb, would rolled oats for next month bring them up to target.

mahoney_j

Arrabawn/greenvale have an excellent nut (eazy calver)out.Its a 20% nut and the 2 main ingriedents are oats and soya as well as all the dry cow minerals.You only need to feed 2 kg a head and its meant to be the business

saranac1

What weights are they now roughly?

misnormer

The fresians if close to 450 kilo should put on 90kg after birth in the coming grazing season,feeding at this side of christmas is too late to try and put on the weight without going overfat,which may result in a difficult calving.

Timmaay

mahoney_j wrote: »

Arrabawn/greenvale have an excellent nut (eazy calver)out.Its a 20% nut and the 2 main ingriedents are oats and soya as well as all the dry cow minerals.You only need to feed 2 kg a head and its meant to be the business

Any idea on the price, and is it sold in 25kg bags?

mahoney_j

Yeadh its sold in 25 kg bags and i think its around the 400 a tonne mark ill check tomorrow and get back to you.I know its expensive but its meant to be serious feed

delaval

warfie35 wrote: »

Av 15 in calf fr heifers slightly behind target weights, due to start calving early Feb, would rolled oats for next month bring them up to target.

What would you consider target weight for B/W?

PMU

at this stage you are only feeding the calf with extra feed

maxxuumman

PMU wrote: »

at this stage you are only feeding the calf with extra feed

That's what I would have thought. Risky business feeding on heifers at this stage. How much weight will they really put on between now and calving, and you are risking big calves and difficult calvings. I would be looking at some sort of plan for post calving.

micky mouse

Yeah,you are asking for trouble feeding meal this near to calving.Leave them till after calving.Main thing you have to remember is that you have youth on your side,a young animal is different to an old thin cow.Young heifers can take a bit of abuse.Throw the meal into them after they calved and your best silage;)

delaval

Weighed ours yesterday xbred 470kg b/w 490 calving first Feb. I know it is too late to do anything before calving. They loo in v good order, what ye think of weights?

freedominacup

delaval wrote: »

Weighed ours yesterday xbred 470kg b/w 490 calving first Feb. I know it is too late to do anything before calving. They loo in v good order, what ye think of weights?

They're about 50kgs below what's recommended. But that recommendation is a catch all that covers Stanfits v.high yield potential holsteins and verything else back to pure old type british fresians with a few crossbreds thrown in for luck. If they have a good condition score then all you can do is manage them to stop the calf putting on weight between now and calving.

If they are light you could try to ensure they are given a bit of tlc in the last week before calving when intakes become v. restricted due to the size of the calf. A few kgs of ration daily to make sure their energy/blood sugar levels are up before calving will help them through esp if they are a bit behind in condidtion score.

delaval

Cheers freedom, They are in really good condition 50% jex and 50% Ne Zealand. Too late to feed now besides we had lighter ones on 3 kg ration for last 2 months stopped now last thing we need is calving trouble really messes them up for quiet a while.