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Pedigree Holstein freshly calved cows making onwards of £1800 at sales

It is difficult to explain at first instance of why the price of freshly calved cows are making onwards of £1800 when the base milk price is £0.24 in the North of Ireland. The demand for freshly calved cows far outstrips availability. There are number of reasons explaining this feature: The incidence of TB has […]

Sales of cattle ration have increased sharply in the North of Ireland

Farm visits to dairy and suckler herds this week in the North of Ireland reveal a significant reduction in the purchase of concentrated feeds for both beef and dairy cattle. Poor beef prices and unprofitable milk production have pushed farmers into cost reduction exercises. Meal companies are faced with increased long-term debts and indeed are […]

Nitrates Directives & Removal of Derogations will be the new milk quotas in Ireland

Calls in the North of Ireland this week revealed Department planners taking a very strong stand on the planning applications for slurry storage on farms. Planners are refusing to provide the option for planning on the basis that methane production will have to be controlled in the future. The same emphasis on planning applications has […]

Is the stock bull or the cows responsible for this fertility problem?

On a call outside Armagh where a client was running a stock bull on animal basis with dairy cows. This stock bull was Belgium Blue cross Limousin bull. The client wanted to continue using this bull as it produced calves with no history of calving difficulty. The calves produced using this Belgium Blue cross Limousin […]

Beef calves from the dairy herd leaving the most profit from dairy in Northern Ireland

Calls in Co Derry reveals Angus cross Holstein calves making 300 pounds at 7 – 8 weeks of age having been weaned off milk replacer. These clients revealed that current milk price is not in its own right profitable because of relatively high cost of production in indoors winter milk production system. However, the amount […]

Johne’s testing needs to be made mandatory for beef & dairy production

Farm calls in West Cork highlighted how important Johne’s testing for herd health and survivability. This client revealed that he must strictly use beef sires on his dairy herd as Johne’s problem is at very high incidence causing chronic health and poor survivability in his herd. Adaption he has taken to maintain the structure of […]

Goldfish will keep water troughs clean

On a call in Scott & Brian Thompson in Eglinton Co Derry revealed goldfish can be used in water troughs to keep them clean. Scott has kept these goldfish for past 8 years in his water troughs. He never uses any supplementary feeding to them, and they are extremely healthy. In an era where clean […]

Calls in Counties Clare in Galway revealing a number of cases of pneumonia in cattle.

Problems that’s arising here are that: temperatures are elevated, humidity is very high and cattle are overstocked in houses.A precautionary measure that should be taken is to clip cattle on the top line which will help reduce the stress on these cattle and reduce heat load. Ensure vaccination programmes are up to date to reduce […]

Scan Smart Technology reveals a link to coccidiosis.

On a Farm visit north of Cork city a group of maiden heifers were presented as the client was failing to detect heats in this group where collars were being used as an aid for heat detection. In the group of 40 heifers all except 2 heifers were cycling, 1 was prepubertal and the other […]

Twins born to a Charolais cow can vary tremendously in terms of birth weight and subsequent development.

On a farm visit with Kevin Whelan near Borris-in-Ossery Co. Laois revealed a set of twins born as a male and a female whereby the male was much larger than the female, scan smart technology can accurately cows carrying twins from 30 days through 110 days of pregnancy. We have noted in our Scan Smart […]