• Many of us make resolutions every new year and break them before the end of January; let’s do something different this year.
  • Make a genuine ‘stop doing’ list instead.
• The following few ideas might lead you to formulate it. Here goes, I will stop:
  • Working before 6am in the morning and later than 6pm in the evening.
  • Working more than six days a week.
  • Feeding more than 700kg meal per cow per year.
  • Being stocked more than 2.8 cows/ha on the milking platform (MP) and more than 2.5 cows/ha overall.
  • Using more than 212kg N/ha (170 units/acre).
• The following are some of the new year resolutions you never made but you actually implement because you don’t ‘stop doing’ the above:
  • You don’t have time to take your children to school, to play games, etc.
  • You don’t have time to socialise with your partner/family.
  • You don’t have time to take holidays.
  • You don’t have time to blink because you are so busy as a result of your high stocking rate system.
• A simple, grass-based, low-cost, spring-calving system is the only way to have adequate personal and family time. Unfortunately, many farmers with that ambition have drifted away, inadvertently, to high-cost, labour-intensive, less environmentally friendly systems with lower farm profits.
• Get your priorities right!

PLENTY OF GRASS FOR FEBRUARY AND MARCH

• You must plan to be grazing grass from early February (three weeks later on wettish farms) because it will be worth at least €2.70/cow/day more profit.
• First of all, lime (pH greater than 6.3), P and K must be Index 3 and over.
• What are the factors that give you the best response to early spring nitrogen?

a. Forecasted conditions – check Met Éireann and PastureBase:

• Soil temperature must be over six degrees.
• A little rain has no adverse effect.
• Good growth rates, over 7kg DM/ha, gives good response.

b. Paddock details:

• Dry ground – wet ground results in poor growth.
• The more perennial ryegrass in a sward the better.
• Grass cover – the higher the cover (1,000-1,500kgDM/ha) the better the response.
• Soil fertility – the pH should be 6.3-6.5, with P and K Index 3
  and 4.
• When infrastructure is very good with many access points, be near the yard, have good shelter and good drainage.

c. Farm and farmer attitude have a big influence:

• The whole farm stocking rate (SR) should be 2-2.5; whereas the response is low at SRs of less than two livestock units per hectare.
• Willing to get out early – one must start as early in February as possible. Responses are poor if one has to or does delay until March 17.
• If one is tight in winter feed the responses are good.
• Farmers who do not know how the above factors affect response will get poor nitrogen responses in spring.

d. The outcome will be good if you apply the above:

• Higher grass growth and more early April grass for the second rotation
• A good economic return of at least €2 for every €1 spent on nitrogen.

• Using a trailing shoe slurry spreader instead of a splash-plate increases the value of the slurry in spring by 50%; every 1,000 gallons contains nine units of nitrogen.
  • This will cover over 80% of the cost of getting a contractor to spread your slurry with a trailing shoe, as well as being able to spread it on covers up to 700kg DM/ha, while greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ammonia emissions are greatly reduced.
  • Over 80% of your slurry must be spread before the end of April because emission losses are lower due to:
    • Weather being cool, moist, calm with low sunlight.
    • Storage losses of methane are lower because of it being stored for a shorter period.
    • These reduced slurry losses increase the available nitrogen, thus saving bagged nitrogen.
    • There is no justification for applying nitrogen on fields that have recently had slurry spread on them.
    • Obey the slurry spreading dates for your region.
• What is the response to nitrogen in early spring? For every 1kg nitrogen used you will get 10kg DM grass grown (worth €3 at least).
• Don’t spread more than 23 units/acre (30kg N/ha) in late January/early February. But obey the spreading dates for your region,
• You must use protected urea as the nitrogen source for 2025. It is time we adopt confirmed research results on this.
  • Teagasc has confirmed that there is no difference between the three fertiliser nitrogen types – CAN, protected urea, and urea – in terms of annual grass yield.
  • We can’t ignore the environmental benefits:
    • It will substantially reduce both GHG and ammonia emissions.
    • It gives a 71% reduction in nitrous oxide emissions.
    • Nitrate is lost to water during wet periods; protected urea, because it converts to ammonium, is more stable in the soil.
  • I am very disappointed with farmers’ attitude towards protected urea; it is high time that all farmers act to protect and save their reputations.
  • Make sure to have protected urea in the yard and ready to go when weather is suitable.
• P and K: The simple message is, where both are Index 3, the annual maintenance requirement is 20 units and 40 units per acre of P and K, respectively.
  • Apply the P, if not applied in autumn, as early as possible as it necessary for spring growth.
  • Otherwise, 2-2.5 bags of 10:10:20 or 0:10:20 per acre should be applied on all paddocks with Index 3.
  • If they are low, another 2-2.5 bags of 18:6:12 should be applied in April/May.
  • Light soils may respond to sulphur if February is dry.
• In or around January 20, measure the farm grass cover. This will:
  • The winter growth rate; and important piece of info for future planning,
  • Aid you in planning let-out date and grass budgeting so as to save on meal use.
• Make a spring grassland plan now:
  1. Match up cow and replacement numbers so that you are stocked at 2.5 and 2.8 cows/ha on the farm overall and on the milking platform (MP), respectively.
  2. Do the spring rotation plan on PastureBase so that you can have grazed grass in the cow’s diet every day to April. Such a valuable, effective and simple tool to manage your daily grazing area. I can’t understand why so few use it! The following are the key targets by date:

4. Do a feed budget to back up the rotation plan and help reduce the amount of meal being fed.
5. Follow Teagasc’s nitrogen fertiliser and slurry application plan for end January/February (three weeks later for wettish farm):
   • Cattle slurry: Spread 2,000 gallons/acre on 40% of the farm with covers less than 1,000 kg DM/ha.
   • Spread no nitrogen on the first 15% of the MP to be grazed.
   • Spread 23 units protected urea per acre on the next 15% of the farm to be grazed.
   • Spread 23 units of nitrogen per acre on next 30% of MP to be grazed.

• Tidy-up roadways and fences: Do this in January before the heavy workload in February.
• Have your temporary reels and posts to hand.
  • Because the paddocks in the range 700-1,000kg DM cover will be getting no nitrogen, this area should be divided up based on the spring rotation area allocated.
  • Then you should, after you have spread your first nitrogen (15% of farm), divide up these paddocks based on the area that the spring rotation planner allocates.
  • Both of these tasks will alleviate a lot of paddock work in February.
• If you need to do a soil test, do it now before any fertiliser or slurry is applied.

PREVENT ANIMAL PROBLEMS BY GOOD ‘HERDING’

• Even though animals are housed they must be ‘herded’ as per usual two to three times per week, watching out for:
• Animals not feeding when others are.
• Lame or ‘tender’ animals (remove from group and treat).
• Empty animals (is she/he sick?).
• Injured (remove from group immediately).
• Bullying (take out the bully as they prevent resting and regular feeding).
• Lice, coughing, scratching, etc. (dose and/or treat).
• Sore eyes.
• Dribbling, etc. (check for IBR and pneumonia).
• Abortions (check if salmonella is the cause).

• Cows should be put through the footbath on three consecutive days once per month to prevent lameness.
• All vaccinations, where possible, should be done in January to reduce the workload in February-March.
• If you haven’t vaccinated for leptospirosis, do it now:
  • This includes all breeding animals as well as heifers for the bull this year.
• If salmonella scour was a problem in calves last year, vaccinate now – talk to your vet.
• Cows that are within 30-40 days of calving should get 100g/day of pre-calving mineral:
  • So, you need a wide feeding face and throw it on the silage twice a day (three times if feeding face is less than 1.5 ft/cow).
• The beneficial effect of the dry cow mastitis tube is now ending:
  • Cow is at greater risk of mastitis.
  • Stress must be minimised (each cow needs one cubicle) as her life is more stressed as she gets near calving.
  • Cubicle beds must be cleaned every day and passages must be cleaned two to three times/day.
  • Use lime (protect your eye), sawdust or chopped straw on the beds.
• Body condition score (BCS): You can’t do much now about February calving thin cows, but fat (3.4+ BCS) should be put on restricted/poor quality feed.
• Yearling heifers should now be 47% of their mature body weight or approx. 260kg.
  • If less than that, they can make 320kg mating weight targets on May 1 by now feeding 2-3k meal (18-20% P) with good silage.

ARE BULLING HEIFERS (R2s) ON TARGET?

• Too many farmers’ first calvers are producing over 700-1,000 litres of milk less than their genetic potential. This also manifests itself in lower lifetime yields, higher culling rates and longer calving intervals for second calvers.
• Target weights now for a yearling heifer should be 47% of the cow’s mature weight:
  • British Friesians – 260kg.
  • Jersey crosses – 250kg.
  • Holsteins – 265kg.
• Heifers below these targets must be fed extra meal from now:
  • For every 1kg they are under target, they will need an extra 5kg of meal (16-18% P). If they are 10kg off target you must feed 50kg of meal over the next 30 days.
  • Plan to get them to grass in early February with 2kg meal.
  • Animals over target need no meals if they have good silage.
• With the number of R1s down by over 10,000 for the coming year and so much TB around, it may be a good time to make a plan to get light weanlings (R1s) up to bulling weight:
  • Feed light weanlings 2-3kg (17-18% P) meal for the remainder of house period and then let them out to grass as early as possible while continuing to feed them 1-2kg meal.
  • Delay mating until mid to late May, so that they are big enough.
  • With this sort of feeding and good management, R2s as light as 185kg now would make a mating target of 320kg in mid-May.
• It is crucial to manage in-calf heifers carefully over the next few weeks:
  • It would be a good idea to now mix in-calf heifers with thin cows so as to minimise stress post calving when they will be exposed to bullying.
  • Run in-calf heifers through the milking parlour from now, feeding them 1-2kg meal to get them familiar with the parlour and the new routine. This will allow them think they own the way to milking and so minimise stress.
  • Of course, they must be getting pre-calving mineral from 40 days before expected calving date.
  • In-calf heifers must be kept on very clean cubicles/bedding pre-calving because their intakes can be as low as 4-6kg DM and their immune system will be very low making them very vulnerable to mastitis infection.
• As an aside, heifer calves that get severe scour will never reach their full potential because they will not be able to digest food effectively because the scour ‘burns off’ the tops of the papilla in the gut. You are forewarned!

GET READY FOR...

• Calving by feeding minerals and meals if cows are thin. But make absolutely certain that cows or in-calf heifers are not getting too fat – restrict their intake.
  • Feed 2-4 oz per head per day of dry cow minerals to cows and heifers for 42 days before calving.
  • As cows must calve in body condition of 3.25-3.5, thin cows must get meal and fat cows must be on restricted silage.
  • As dry cow mastitis treatment is now wearing off it is essential that cows and particularly heifers are kept on clean beds to avoid early lactation mastitis.
    • Clean cubicle beds at least twice per day and lime them; be careful doing this and be sure to wear goggles.
  • List out your cows’ expected calving dates in your diary and start to batch them.
  • Have the calving equipment and houses ready.
  • Have the calf house clean, disinfected, well aerated, the calf feeding equipment at the ready, adequate calf-rearing space, etc.
  • To avoid or minimise Johne’s disease, only feed colostrum from mother and feed milk substitute to replacement heifers. Don’t feed bulk ‘new’ milk to replacements, but this is OK for males.
  • Buy a refractometer now to test colostrum quality.
  • Adequate colostrum is the most important calf-rearing requirement.
  • Having adequate space for all calves is a game changer.
    • Too little space brings poor thrive.
    • Too little space brings a massive increase in health issues such as, pneumonia and scours.
    • Table 1 outlines the space required based on the six-week calving rate you expect and the length of time the calves will spend on the farm.
    • If you have inadequate space, take steps to rectify:
      • Maybe buy calf hutches.
      • Rent a shed nearby for older calves.
      • Have you any old sheds in the yard being used for machinery?

Table 1: Effect of calving rate and age at sale on peak calf numbers for 100 cow herd. Source: Teagasc.

• Milking by servicing the milking machine.
  • This is the most important machine on every dairy farm, because it influences:
    • Milking time.
    • Udder health, particularly mastitis.
    • Milk yield.
  • Servicing can be a DIY job with some easy maintained machines, but you must know what you are at.
  • You must test the machine and act on the recommendations.
  • You should shop around for liners and rubberwear.
  • Add on units if shed is big enough so that you only have eight milking rows.
• Mastitis by keeping the animals’ environment very clean and minimise feeding and bullying stress.
  • Move the ‘expectant’ cows into the calving area seven to 10 days before and practice nighttime silage feeding.
  • If mastitis in heifers has been a problem teat seal them four to six weeks before calving.
• Long working hours by resting well and booking relief help for a few days per week.
  • Work hours are going to be 12-16 hours per day but get help before accidents happen due to tiredness and running from one job to the next.
  • Being tired can result in you being cross, irritable, impatient, not able to think straight and not respectful of family/employees/other farm visitors. Be honest; have you been like that? If in doubt, ask your partner or another family member.
• Slurry will be a vital source of N, P and K this spring. To be sure of its quality you should get it analysed – the tank must be well agitated. No animals or humans should be in or around the shed during agitation.
• To kill ragwort now by spraying in early January with MCPA or 24D.

Bits & pieces

• Have plenty of help for spring work. This is so important from both health and mental health resilience.
  • It is still not too late to do a local search; you must be proactive in your search.
  • A nighttime calver is a huge benefit – pay them well.
  • A work rota is essential for the smooth running of the farm in spring.
• Do your sums before you pay more than €350/acre to rent land. It will probably pay you better to reduce cow numbers. This will allow you have more grazed grass for the cows, therefore, a lower meal bill.
• Profit monitor: Complete it as early in the month as you can. Discuss with your adviser or discussion group.
  • Then do a financial plan for the year and monitor monthly.
• Make sure your discussion group has its annual programme in place now.
  • Chair must be proactive to make it happen.
• Because you are the most important person on the farm, have you the following in place:
  • Are you sure you are in a healthy state – got to the doctor for check-up.
  • Is your eyesight good? Don’t pretend!
  • Do you have a good selection of wet gear – and replacements – for yourself and staff?
  • Do you and your staff have earmuffs?
  • Will you and your staff be able to have a breakfast, dinner and tea every day?
  • Make sure you and your staff are ‘fresh’ by not working excessive hours.
• Is the car and all machinery in good working order? If not get them serviced.
• Have you enough artificial lighting around the yard as 30%+ of your work will be done in the dark.

I would like to wish all readers and their families a very happy new year!