Wintering Out Suckler Cows

I'd usually have a bucket of lick out alright for the cows.

Trying to tighten up calving alright but not finding it easy! 3 calved this year in July - one is being culled, another one went to bull end of September but third one hasn't been to bull yet as her calf got injured and I've had to keep them in for the last month or more - bringing bull over to her next week.

My aim alright is to have 15 to 20 cows calving within 6 weeks of each other in 3 to 4 years time!

How much meal would they need roughly do you think? All purpose or something like that be ok?

Yea, I'd thought about letting her go out till next year alright but wasn't sure if that was ideal or not - it would definitely be another back in line alright - thanks!

I know. Only took over this year after father passed away unexpectedly. They're a pain in the hole at times but I can't see myself getting rid of them either to be honest! There's a story or more behind each one and there's still a great feeling walking around them with their calves when things are going well.

The calves are unbelievably healthy born out but it can go against you too with weather etc. I remember chatting to a dairy farmer last March - I had spent 4 nights in a row checking one particular cow at least twice between going to bed and getting up in the morning (she was out in the field obviously so had to be found first each time!) - she had looked like calving and was well stocked up etc - but she still hadn't calved by night 5. He had calved 27 cows in the same time and was checking them only the same amount of times as me from the comfort of his bed on the phone!

Half thinking of going into organics (next year not this year) and availing of the 60% grant for the shed. Whatever about my thoughts/feelings on calving out, I think it's only right that for whoever is coming behind has the option of putting them in!

I won't be selling the cows but thanks for the advice. As most of ye on here know already, a lot of our decisions aren't based on common sense!

Would you wean the calves anyway before selling?

All silage . The ring feeder is in the yard that come and go to as they please. They have access then to about 8 acres. It’s a dry hill with a rushy/wettish ring around the bottom of it and two big grove of trees that stay bone dry. I have another dryish field as well that I’m going reseeding next spring so I will probably use that for part of the winter too or split them into smaller groups. They’re usually on 2 groups but I might even make a third group this year (I have use of a neighbours 8 acre hill that has an old hay barn on it which is great shelter).

I should also add that the land fertility is quite poor - fertiliser put out on silage fields only down through the years and nothing on the rest of the farm. No slurry either obviously. Got soil tests done earlier and one or two fields were ph of 5.5 but most were 5 or lower so I plan on putting out a lot of lime in the spring.

I have about 55 acres - it's very mixed. A couple of good hills (well they were good!) but lots of rushes and marshy land too that has great grass in a summer like this year but you couldn't walk a lot of it then from now till next March/April. In a hen harrier area and glas so I'll be in a co-op area for ACRES hopefully if I get in.

I also have access to about 16 acres of what was goodish ground but has been let go. It's not a long term lease, nor never will be, but I could have use of it for a good few years. Going to mulch it next spring/early summer and it'll be a massive boost for grass/possibly silage.

Plan is to get land fertility up the next few years as well as getting to know/learn more about the cows welfare, dosing, fertility etc. In fairness to my father he always had very good weanlings so I'd like to focus on quality over quantity. Mostly ch x cows and I've a young pure bred CH bull that we got around May 2021. There's so much to learn/take in though but, in fairness, there's great help around with groups like this here, a local grass group that I joined that meets once a month and just ballhopping neighbours whenever I meet them!

Not a great start alright.

Some great points, thanks. In fairness to him, we had the conversation before he passed - he made it clear that the cows were hard work and that there was no way I should feel I had to keep them going and he suggested dry stock too. I'd like to try the sucklers for a few years anyway - it's easy change if not suiting or working out after the few years.

A lot of the stuff I've to pick up relates to the farm in general anyway and not just the type of farming. For example I was amazed by the amount of grass around the farm during May, June and most of July but then equally amazed by how poor the growth was since August even when other lads had plenty of grass still growing. (I'm guessing and have been told by some that this is down to fertilizer/slurry never having been spread anywhere except the couple of silage fields.)

After the comments here and other lads around I've spoken to I'm going to leave the weanlings on their cows this year right up to going to the mart but creep feed them a bit for the next few weeks - they should be all be gone in a month or so anyway. I'm going to split the group in 3 for winter bales using 1 if not 2 fields that wouldn't have been used before as they're going to be reseeded next year. I'll put out buckets of mineral licks for all and give the 3 cows that are keeping their calves for the winter a bit of feed to keep them happy and play it by ear then.

Thanks again to all for the advice - ye mightn't all realise it when you add a comment or piece of advice, no matter how detailed or not, but it's a great source of info here and has been a massive help.