101 calves born, two deaths but a very good calving season so far. We still have to work out our sexed semen success and our heifer : bull ratio – at last count we were about 56 dairy heifers, 5 beef heifers and the rest in bulls so the ratio is pretty good. Here’s my nine commandments for successful calf rearing – well, it’s keeping me going and the calves thriving!
Patience is [...]
Calving will be starting on many Irish farms over the next few days and weeks. Farming papers are full of instructions for directions for improving calf health and reducing mortality. If you’re married to a new entrant dairy farmer or you’re wondering what being married to a dairy farmer might be like during the calving time, here’s the low down on what you need!
Not for the calves or even the cows but the farmer here needs a a steady [...]
Some of the calves have been weaned now and some are being fed with milk just once a day. There are still about 60 calves in 2 sheds that are being fed twice a day and I look on it as my twice daily workout!
I actually miss it if I [...]
The windmill is flying around since it was connected during the week. At times today, it almost sounded like a distant aeroplane at times but I think that is just because we are so used to the only noise being the birds around here.
I went up with the kids to see it and Kate insisted on taking some [...]
