TIPS FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY 2013

1.   Ensure cows within 6 weeks of calving have to be fed high DMD silage.

2.   Colostrum management should entail individual feeding of calves with their own dams colostrum, presuming she does not have a high reading for Johnes disease.

3.   Calving difficulty will reduce future reproductive potential. Starving beef cows to avoid over sized calves will be counterproductive on future reproductive performance.

4.   Avoid putting slurry on good covers of grass. This will have a detrimental effect on DMI of soiled grass and a negative effect on metabolism.

5.   Winter breeding programmes are now into their last four weeks. Most farmers want a break from calving for the Christmas period which will mean calving date of 20/12/13 by breeding until 10/2/13.

6.   It is essential to scan suckler and dairy herds now to assess reproductive performance and get cows in calf by 10/3/12.

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