The Mystery of the Bloat-Inducing Milk Powder
Tag Archives: calving
‘Let it snow, let it snow’
Storm Emma and the “Beast from the East” met to create some chaos in Ireland this past week. While we got a lot of snow and were snowed in for a few days, we weren’t in the worst affected county. We didn’t have to put in that much preparation as all livestock were housed in any case. We moved any heavily pregnant cows into the maternity shed to reduce the risk of having to move them across an icy yard. We [...]
What To Expect When You’re Calving / Lambing
It’s been a busy fortnight with the calving and I’m presuming that those lambing will experience similar circumstances when it’s full flow! Let me know if these situations are familiar to you or if I’m totally weird!
Tea is Fuel
Maybe it’s our age, maybe it’s the fact that the weather has been cold and blustery, maybe it’s because we are sleep deprived but unless we get tea at regular intervals, our energy levels and productivity take a nosedive! We know things [...]
#Calving15 Has A Good Start
It’s that time of year again – when a text or a call that says ‘I need a hand’ always puts me slightly on edge.
Calves are actually much more sensible than humans in the way they are born, more sensible than other animals too. They usually come out singly so they don’t have any siblings there with multiple limbs to entangle them! They usually come out in [...]
Farmers: Optimistic or Pessimistic?
When I was interviewed by Ryan Tubridy last December (shameless name dropping there!) he was teasing that farmers tend to be negative, grumpy and pessimistic. “Not so,” was my reply “They are optimistic, they always see the silver lining but they can never be too positive as they just never know what is around the corner.”
After all, although we don’t get extreme weather here in Ireland, it can happen that sudden flash floods can still damage crops or make a [...]