When Calving Starting

jaymla627

mahoney_j wrote: »

Wise move ,no point having a heap of replacements you don't need ,carrying and rearing them is a huge drain on cash .250/300 euro plus for blue calves will be a nice boost through the spring

The labour side of it will be a huge help too, having all replacements landed in feb/early March will seriously reduce workload as would be hoping to have the beef calves out the door at 10 days old once the bvd results are cleared....

leg wax

and we are off , fr heifer .cow served on 24/ 4 .

patsy_mccabe

jaymla627 wrote: »

30% of lower preforming cows in calf to Belgian blue this year with rest to dairy sires.
Everything's going in calf to beef sires this year bar maiden heifers and top 25% of herd that will get 3 weeks dairy ai, getting of the replacement train as peak numbers going to be milked will be hit next year, replacement rate in herd is only running at 10% year on year, so 20 heifer calves will all that will be needed going forward....
Pretty eye opening when doing the figures the extra cash that will be available from the massive increase in calf sales and the decrease in replacement costs will add around 30 thousand plus a year in cash

At last, someone talking sense. Beef calves from the dairy herd are more than just a by-product.

mahoney_j

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

At last, someone talking sense. Beef calves from the dairy herd are more than just a by-product.

Or beer money !!

jack o shea

Any quick way of getting calf tags ordered and to arrive quickly? forgot to order the bloody things before xmas.

Timmaay

jack o shea wrote: »

Any quick way of getting calf tags ordered and to arrive quickly? forgot to order the bloody things before xmas.

Call them up, and tell them you are stuck stuck, they should be able to get a box out quickly to get ya outa trouble.

Freejin

jack o shea wrote: »

Any quick way of getting calf tags ordered and to arrive quickly? forgot to order the bloody things before xmas.

I ordered before Xmas and still no sign of them

whelan2

Freejin wrote: »

I ordered before Xmas and still no sign of them

is it 21 working days or something ? send them an email its much quicker than ringing them

RD10

Bit off topic but when do people generally start cutting back on food with their in-calf cows before calving?
Ive had a handful calf already and next lot are due from 11th feb on.
Just interested to hear.

mahoney_j

RD10 wrote: »

Bit off topic but when do people generally start cutting back on food with their in-calf cows before calving?
Ive had a handful calf already and next lot are due from 11th feb on.
Just interested to hear.

Never cutback close to calving ,always have fresh feed available as cows appetite is a bit depressed close to calving and they need to keep energy intakes as high as possible

frazzledhome

jack o shea wrote: »

Any quick way of getting calf tags ordered and to arrive quickly? forgot to order the bloody things before xmas.

Sorry Jack, they're a law on to them selves.

Happened here a few yrs ago, ended up tagging with our own tags till they arrived. They'll tell you two working weeks which is actually 3 wks in farmers terms as they don't count weekends

Brown Podzol

jack o shea wrote: »

Any quick way of getting calf tags ordered and to arrive quickly? forgot to order the bloody things before xmas.

Let my order go late here as well, was trying to get RFID tags from this site https://www.animalguard.ie/products.php?record_id=12&cat_name=RFID+Cow+%26+Sheep+Tags but they couldent confirm if they would work with my new calf feeder. Ordered from Mullinahone on Monday and they arrived on Thurs. Have always taken a month.

trixi2011

What are people doing to get mag into cows in the lead up to calving ?

Milked out

RD10 wrote: »

Bit off topic but when do people generally start cutting back on food with their in-calf cows before calving?
Ive had a handful calf already and next lot are due from 11th feb on.
Just interested to hear.

Never cut back on feed. Depending on space/groups in pens we start feeding some of the milkers mix to the dries near calving to get used to diet if not they would be getting some maize with the silage so diet won't have as dramatic a change once calved.

kevthegaff

I'm feeding incalf heifers 2 kgs nut, would ye cut out a few weeks before calving? Have 3 calved not planned. Milking once a day until ill start keeping milk

mahoney_j

kevthegaff wrote: »

I'm feeding incalf heifers 2 kgs nut, would ye cut out a few weeks before calving? Have 3 calved not planned. Milking once a day until ill start keeping milk

If u must feed Kev feed oats and soya ,cows won't get fat plus calves won't be monsters

Ldkmc

Had an old cow calve tonight, she got cross before calving, sack came out and she lay down and pushed out a big AA bull calf. Shortly after she got up and started nudging the calf around the shed and wouldn't leave him be. Calf go nothing off her in the first hour as she was mad so we put her in the crush and moved them out to a single shed. Got beastings from a neighbour and got them into the calf. She's still in bad form and balling away. Calf standing but not sucking yet. Cow has never been like this before and she's 8/10 yrs old. Anyone have similar problems?

Kovu

Did you check her for a second calf? Have seen similar when a cow is confused. Try putting salt/meal on the nuts to encourage her to lick him.

Ldkmc

Didn't check for a second one but she did clean up though... Put meal on him twice she licked all off and nudged him into the corner. Will look at getting vet in AM to check her.

Kovu

Ldkmc wrote: »

Didn't check for a second one but she did clean up though... Put meal on him twice she licked all off and nudged him into the corner. Will look at getting vet in AM to check her.

Wouldn't worry too much about the vet just yet. Had a couple of cows act weird toward calves last year when they didn't get up straight away. When he does she'll prob get a bit more motherly.

Ldkmc

Kovu wrote: »

Wouldn't worry too much about the vet just yet. Had a couple of cows act weird toward calves last year when they didn't get up straight away. When he does she'll prob get a bit more motherly.

She's still balling out the yard... A good nights rest would sort her hopefully.

simx

OfficIally started last night angus bull all well and good in the hood

Deepsouthwest

trixi2011 wrote: »

What are people doing to get mag into cows in the lead up to calving ?

Sprinkling ordinary dry cow minerals here for the last few wks, and bolused all cows and heifers over the wkend, probably a bit late with the bolus, but yard and crush was inaccessible with building work for the last while. That normally covers me for pre calving mag

keep going

trixi2011 wrote: »

What are people doing to get mag into cows in the lead up to calving ?

Just pre calver on silage.did bloods for minerals week before last and everything ok

Milked out

5th set of twins today since Oct out of 42 calving. Hope to **** that's the end of em. Anyone do anything routine with cows after twins?. Give em a shot of oxytocin if it's difficult calving to pass the cleaning and a bottle of calcium for older cows. Have put one of these 5 on once a day and helped her a good bit, 2nites one I'm thinking to do the same is she is thin but had little springing so afraid she'd dry up instead of come into mik

leg wax

first aa ever born here.:rolleyes:

bogman_bass

leg wax wrote: »

first aa ever born here.:rolleyes:

That must have been a shock to the system! Are you using and BB on mature cows?

leg wax

bogman_bass wrote: »

That must have been a shock to the system! Are you using and BB on mature cows?

1st cow served with stq and still waiting, as fr straws had not been ordered in time

Timmaay

Smaller calving shed ready and 1st heifer going into it tonight. Moved around some straw also, two calf pens to hold 10calves each ready also. Won't be much else calving before Feb 1st, the larger calving pen still has dry cows in it, I'll be juggling around afew cows and turn 1/2 that shed into a calving box for the bigger rush early Feb. Still refining the whole calving routine here ha, but largely happy enough with the sheds and calving pens layout by now.

Greengrass1

Calving shed ready to go here