pre-calver

Just come in from the latest stillborn calf, so far 3 stillborn out of 6 calved. Only have 20 sucklers and this year making me question having them. Seems a lot of work and hassle for very little reward. Managed to get the second stillborn and placenta to the lab for a PM the other day. Still...

We’ve been having a few rumbling issues this winter with calves and rotavirus (which we vaccinate the cows for), navel ill, pneumonia. The cows calve all year round but generally from nov - April. I try to get them scour vaccinated within the 3-12 week pre calving window. Anyhow, the vet was on...

Written by John Swire from Farm Business As concentrate prices hold strong and livestock farmers push stock harder on homegrown feeds, nutritional shortfalls in forage needs to be addressed for breeding stock, says Dr Alison Bond, nutritionist for Rumenco. “Throughout the winter feeding...

New to dairy and just trying to glean a bit of your collective wisdom. What are peoples views on this practice pre calving. Will be milking Pedigree Jersey heifers in a robot. Feed rep has recommended steaming them up with concentrates 3 months prior to calving. Call me sceptical but I’m very...

I think the PLi should include the above. I’ve had enough of having to intervene and pull because the mother just isn’t getting in with it over the last 5 years. Then the calf is absolutely useless at finding its mothers teat as well, I then have to feed it too. All this snatch calving etc has a...

As title getting ready to let cattle out an noticed limo heifer springin and heavy🤔😩 of course she’s not the biggest and def not the quietest. What would ye recommend to feed her wit till she calves were guessin month plus or minus away? Hav some hay left an could leave her on bare paddock but...

We have a 21 month old gersey/south poll hiefer that showed up with a calf. the calf is really active (even if it is really small) and the heifer seems to have plenty of milk. Is there anything to do to make sure they will be fine? its getting pretty cold around here right now.

We are in the first couple of weeks of calving and are finding that our colostrum is not quite up to scratch, has anyone any experience of tweaking their dry cow feeding over the last few weeks to improve costume quality? Our cows are in good condition and have been out on grass, they are now...