All 10 farms involved in the BETTER Farm NI programme operate spring-calving suckler herds. Although calving is already under way on Barry Carty’s farm, on the majority of the other farms calving tends to run from late February and finishes in early May.

How cows are managed in the final three months of the gestation period will have a significant effect on the number of live calves hitting the ground.

Over the coming months, the focus on the programme farms will be firmly on calving management, both in the runup to calves being born and in the days and weeks post-calving.

Outlined are some of the features of pre-calving management on the programme farms.

1 Ad-lib silage feeding

From housing until mid-January, winter feeding is geared towards maintaining cows in body condition score (BCS) at 3.0.

Silage feeding has been carefully managed to prevent cows from eating to appetite and gaining excessive condition, which could create calving problems.

Around 75% of calf development occurs in the final 10 to 12 weeks of gestation

But in the final runup to calving, the farmers will gradually increase the daily allocation of silage to cows. The target is to have cows on ad-lib silage around two weeks pre-calving.

Around 75% of calf development occurs in the final 10 to 12 weeks of gestation. Therefore, the cow has an increasing requirement for energy during this period.

Increasing silage levels in the final weeks prior to calving will provide more energy, meeting the heavily pregnant cow’s nutritional requirements.

2 Pre-calving minerals

Dry cow minerals should be fed to in-calf animals from six to eight weeks pre-calving.

However, some of the farmers will now feed pre-calving minerals throughout winter, based on blood analysis or where there has been historical problems associated with low mineral status.

In addition to pre-calving minerals, it can be beneficial to supplement cows with around 5ml of iodine, which is sprayed on the animals’ flanks weekly.

3 Scour vaccines

Prevention is better than cure and the programme farms generally experience few issues with diseases associated with calving, such as scour.

Vaccines will be given around four to six weeks ahead of calving

While routine cleaning and disinfecting of calving sheds reduces the disease risk, it is even more effective when combined with vaccinating for scour.

Vaccines will be given around four to six weeks ahead of calving to allow time for an adequate immune response to develop, with these anitbodies then passed to the calf via colostrum.

As all the farms have moved to compact calving systems, calving pens experience a high turnover of animals, so more animals will come into contact with pathogens in a shorter time period.

Therefore, a vaccination programme boosts the newborn calf’s immune system, leaving young animals less susceptible to disease.

4 Clipping cows

When cows are out of the shed for vaccinating, it is worthwhile taking the time to clip cows along the tail, underbelly and around the udder if needed.

As a newborn calf tries to suck for the first time, it tends to suck on hair along the belly of the cow

This will keep cows cleaner in the runup to calving, meaning there is less soiled matter around the udder.

As a newborn calf tries to suck for the first time, it tends to suck on hair along the belly of the cow until it latches on to the teat.

This means that the calf can be taking in pathogens, via faecal matter stuck to the cow, before it has had its first feed of colostrum. So the less soiled hair on this area, the better.

5 Soya pre-calving

Where cows are being fed average- or low-quality forage, cows can be slower to fill the udder pre-calving.

Also, as this diet will be low in protein, colostrum can also be of low quality.

Feeding 0.5kg/cow of soya on a daily basis during the final two weeks of gestation will help cows to fill the udder, as well as improve milk and colostrum quality.

Taking soya at £300/t, feeding 0.5kg/day for 14 days will cost £2.10 per cow, so it is a cost-effective option to improve colostrum quality.

Having cows batched in groups based on early-, mid- and late-calving animals means soya is easier to target to cows, avoiding overfeeding.

6 Clean calving facilities

There is no substitute for good hygiene in calving sheds. Calving pens will be washed and disinfected before use.

During the calving period, calving boxes will be in high demand, which makes it impractical to clean each pen after every use.

Once calved, cows will be moved to loose pens as quickly as possible

However, calving pens will be cleaned out at least once per fortnight, with fresh straw applied before every use.

Once calved, cows will be moved to loose pens as quickly as possible to prevent animals from soiling pens excessively and possibly shedding disease.

7 Evening feeding

Cows that calve during daylight hours will naturally get more attention.

Feeding cows late in the evening will cut down on the number of cows calving at night.

For this to work properly, cows should be fed to appetite around 8pm to 9pm each evening during the final month prior to calving.

Cows should not receive any additional fodder during the day, even if the passage is empty.

8 When to move cows at calving

Moving cows at calving time is purely a judgement call. In most cases, it is better to move cows off slats to straw bedding well in advance of calving date to allow animals to settle in the new environment.

Otherwise, it may be best to leave cows on slats until the water bag has been presented.

Moving cows that are exhibiting all the signs of early labour can sometimes delay the onset of calving.

9 Calving aids

Check that the calving jack is working and invest in new ropes, as the old ones could transmit bacteria to the inside of a cow when applied to the calf’s leg.

Always wear gloves when handling the calf and examining the cow during labour.

10 Water provision

Cows lose a lot of fluid during labour. In the 24-hour period after calving, a cow can drink up to 60 litres of fresh water. So if there is no drinking troughs fitted in calving pens, now is a good time to install them.

Read more

Dairy management: preparing for calving

Five tips to prepare sheds for calving