A Day in October
Farmer Richard takes us behind the scenes once again. This diary entry from a day in October at Low Sizergh Barn provides insight into the activities of the main calving period on the farm - and introduces us to Roddy the Cow Dog!
This is the middle of the main calving period on the farm, with up to 4 calves being born every day.
3 weeks before they are due to calve the cows are brought under cover and checked over three times a day. Any that look imminent are put into straw bedded pens. The heifers (the young cows that are having a first calf) need a bit of monitoring, but I’m glad to say the cows usually get on fine without my help.
Once the calf is born we check to make sure it has suckled. Newborn calves have no immunity; they need the colostrum in the milk for its antibodies.
The calf goes into an individual pen for 2-3 days until it can drink successfully from a teat, then it goes into a group pen with 4 or 5 other calves. The teat system is new this year and so far it’s working well. The calves take more readily to a teat than a bucket.
The newly calved cow is watched carefully to make sure she is not showing any signs of milk fever, and that she is eating. The post-calving diet is very important. This is the period when the cow gives the most milk so she must get the right balance of energy, protein and fibre. This time of year the cows eat both grass and silage. They get a supplement of cereal pellets to compensate for the fact that silage is higher in fibre compared to grass, but lower in protein and energy.
At the moment the cows are out in the fields during the day (they came in at night in September) and my hope is that the weather stays dry enough for them to graze right through until November. We’ll be doing well if the herd stays outdoors 8 months of the year. Cow dog Roddy keeps fitter that way too.
The other livestock job this week was sorting the sheep. We’re getting the breeding ewes ready for the tup by tailing, or clipping them on the back end.
At the same time their feet get inspected and if there is any sign of foot rot an antibiotic spray is applied.
We have been completing some construction work in the cow building. Over the summer we’ve been putting in new cubicles and a new automatic scraper. When the weather is fine it seems there’s plenty of time to finish off these jobs, but I know very well that I’m deceiving myself and it won’t last!
