My Farm

Table of contents

1.Introduction
2.Breeds of cattle
3.Method of heat dectection used
4.Diet before calving
5.Colostrum
6.Steps taken to ensure low mortality rates at
calving
7.Calving system-
• 1st summer on grass
• 1st winter on grass
8.Target wieghts
9.Disease/disease history on my farm
10.Body condition score
11.Procedures in calf life
12.Signs of the onset of calving
13.Caring for the calf after calving
14.serving
15.Interview
16.Conclusion
 Introduction
I am doing this project on my father's farm which is
.
located in between cappaquin and Lismore My farm
consists of 140 acres which is split into 70 acres of
forrestation,65 acres of grassland and 5 acres of storage
land for hay bales and silage.I am doing my project on
calf rearing and hope to learn a lot from it.

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Breeds of cattle
there is a big mixture of cattle on my farm and there are all
used for beef purposes

Short horn
Shorthorn cattle are red, white, roan in colour. The
docility of Shorthorn cattle is exceptional together with high
fertility and longevity make the breed easy to manage with
minimal labour

Aberdeen-Angus
Angus are hardy, undemanding, adaptable, mature at around two years of
age, and have a high carcass yield with marbled meat.. They are good
natured in comparison to several breeds but are more aggressive than the
breeds such as the Hereford. Angus are used as beef cattle and are not used
for milk intended for human consumption .

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Black Hereford
The Black Hereford has a white face like the Hereford, but the red body
colour of the Hereford is replaced by black from the Holstein-Friesian –
white face and black coat colour are both genetically dominant in cattle. The
pied pattern of the Holstein-Friesian does not appear in the offspring.

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Colostrum
On my farm colostrum is bought in during the calving season which
is from January to March.Also known as beestings it is a form of milk
which is produced from the cow to help build the calf's immune
system and protect the calf from disease.
Colostrum is high in carbohydrates, protein, and antibodies and low in
fat.Newborns have very small digestive systems, and colostrum delivers its
nutrients in a very concentrated low-volume form.
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Interview

Q1 Why did you choose the breeds you did on your farm?
they are the breeds that are suitable for suckling,where as a
friesian or diary cow would have too much milk for one calf
Q2 Why did you choose a beef herd?
As a part time farmer I would not be on the farm each morning
and evening to milk cows therefore a suckler herd is more suitable for
me personally
Q3 Why do you not castrate your cows?
Some buyers prefer full bulls when buying at the weaning
stage,also castration stunts the growth of the animal to some extent
Q4 When is the last time you have needed veterinary assistance
when the cow was calving?
Two years ago,a hiefer went in calf while she was too youngand
bore a large bull calf .The calf did not survive the birth but the hiefer
did.The year after this the hiefer went in calf again but she calfed
successfully
Q5 What is your opinion on the world trade talks in Ireland?
The Eu commision and world trade talks are giving away too
many concessions which would impact severly on farmer incomes
and could make commercial farming non viable in Ireland.I would like
to see less of these concessions made in order for commercial
farming to survive.
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Diet before calving

The cows before calving are fed on a high plain of

nutrition which includes quality hay,concentrates and fresh
grass.

Quality Hay
Good quality hay should be green, not too coarse, and contain plant heads
and leaves as well as stems.
It is very sensitive to weather conditions, particularly when it is harvested.
Hay or grass is the foundation of the diet for all grazing animals and can
provide as much as 100% of the fodder required for an animal. Hay is
usually fed to an animal in place of allowing the animal to graze on grasses
in a pasture, particularly in the winter or during times when drought or other
conditions make pasture unavailable. Animals that can eat hay vary in the
types of grasses suitable for consumption, the ways they consume hay, and
how they digest it.
 Concentrates

are feedstuffs that are blended from various raw materials and additives.
These blends are formulated according to the specific requirements of the
target animal. They are manufactured by feed compounders as meal type,
pellets or crumbles.
Compound feeds can be complete feeds that provide all the daily required
nutrients, concentrates that provide a part of the ration (protein, energy) or
supplements that only provide additional micro-nutrients such as minerals
and vitamins.

Colostrum
On my farm colostrum is bought in during the calving season which
is from January to March.Also known as beestings it is a form of milk
which is produced from the cow to help build the calf's immune
system and protect the calf from disease.
Colostrum is high in carbohydrates, protein, and antibodies and low in
fat.Newborns have very small digestive systems, and colostrum delivers its
nutrients in a very concentrated low-volume form.

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Steps taken to ensure low mortality rates at

calving

•Usually the two front legs emerge first followed by the head and the
 rest of the body.When puulingthe calf from the cow you should
pull out and down and also make sure you are not pulling at an
acute angle.
•Occasionally but rarely the calf may be dead within the cow (still
born) which can make it very difficult for the cow to give birth to
the dead calf,if this happens you will need veterinary assistance
as the carcass may poison the cow
•sometimes the cow may retain the afterbirth for some time,if the cow
hasn't released the afterbirth within 3-4 days,it will require
veterinary assistance to avoid poisoning or infection

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Disease/disease history on my farm

On my farm there has been only one disease that has been
recorded.In 1999 my farm suffered from Blackleg which is a highly
fatal disease of young cattle caused by inhaling bacteria that has
lived in the soil.The first sign observed is usually lameness, loss of
appetite, rapid breathing and the cow is usually depressed and has
a high fever. Characteristic swellings develop in the hip, shoulder,
chest, back, neck or elsewhere.The cow usually dies in 12 to 48
hours.Ever since than all cattle on my farm have been vaccinated
after birth to prevent this disease from happening again.

Calving system-

First summer on grass

On my farm for the first summer on grass the calves are fed
concentrates along with fresh tasty grass as the calves are selective
grazers and follow the leader/follower system.

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First winter housed
As the herd on my farm are suckler cows they are hardy and don't
need to be housed.for the calves in their first winter they are well
sheltered and are fed hay and nuts

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On my farm calves are sold when they are approx. 6
months of age although some replacement heifers are
kept

Procedures in calf life

•Tagging
The calves are tagged a few days after birth,between a month-
6 weeks after birth.
Angus calves do not have horns (polly) so are therfore not
tagged
calves are put into a pen/dehorning crate before tagging this is
to ensure that the calf doesn't move during the
procedure.After this the calf is given annestetic if the calf is
over a month old.

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Signs of the onset of calving

• You will notice the calf has moved back into the cow as the pen
bones located near the end of cow go down flat
•the cow excretes mucus followed by the water which will then break
 and then the legs of the calf should then emerge
the cows ottter would be filling with colostrum and growing hard in the
days prior to calving

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Caring for the calf after calving

• Ensure the air passages of the calf are cleaned and

freed of mucus
•The cow will usually lick the calf clean but he she
doesn't put salt on the calf's back
•The calf will then stand up shortly and drink the
cow,if this does not happen feed the calf with
colostrum which encourages them to stand up
and drink the cow
•Observe the calf to see if it passed the first motion
(throwing up wax).On rare occasions it's
neccessary to give the calf some liquid parafin to
free out the calf's bowels

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The replacement hiefer
•Cows are replaced anually on my farm usually in the month of
june.Their is replacement hiefers because of when cows are
either infertile or are diseased.
•the target weights of replacement hiefers on my farm are as follows:
In april while they are on grass should weigh about 80kg
For their first winter housed since they are fed quality hay and
concentrates they should reach 200kg by november
For their second summer on grasswhich is around may they
should reach a target of around 300kg
For the first winter housed again should be fed on a high plain
of nutrition to reach the slaughter weight in february.the slaughter
weight for this time would be between 500-525kg.

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Body condition score
Is the rating given to a cow to rate the fat to bone ratio for the cow,in
which 5 would be very fat and 1 would be very skinny/bony.The ideal
body condition score would be an average of 3.

Conclusion
I learned a lot from doing this project and I was
suprised when I learned how farms operate.Learning
about body condition score was the most interesting
part of this project for me.This was a very good
experience.From all the study I did throughout the
course of this project I learned about all the different
types of cows and how my farm works.This was a
great learning oppurtunity for me and I will look back
on this project if I ever need to research on my farms
contents.

Serving
The gestation period of a cow is 256 days.On our farm we aim to
have a spring calving herd which means that the calves should be
born around January or February.This is to make the best use of the
summer grass so that farmers don't have to waste too much money
on feeding calves hay and concentrates

•Castration
Annestetic has to be used before castration.
Castration is not carried out on my farm because they are sold
at the weaning stage so it is not neccessary and they thrive better
when left as full bulls.
Usually farmers would prefer to castrate thier bulls to prevent
more numbers of calves born then they had expected.