THE MAIN concern in autumn, especially if it follows a dry summer, is to keep young stock (calves and yearlings) growing to reach their target weights. Stunted stock will never catch up unless you pay a lot of money for extra feed and give them extra time. Even so, it will have serious effects on their lifetime production capability.
In spring cattle should grow at 1kg/ head/day – a good autumn target is half that. But after a long dry period when they have only maintained their weight or even lost weight, it will be difficult to get them growing again without good silage to supplement the autumn pasture. Borrow scales from the local vet clinic to check weights, as girth tape measures are not very reliable.
It takes 280kg of Dry Matter to replace one condition score on a cow, above its daily maintenance requirement – that’s a lot of feed each day and if you don’t have it on the farm, you’ll face the cost of buying feed in or quitting stock.
Cows at calving should be Body Condition Score (BCS) 5, which is when they have fully rounded hips – check this with the palm of your hand – vs the more angled hips in an animal that’s thinner.
Young stock often scour badly in autumn, especially on fresh green pasture. They then lose weight fast and develop what’s called ‘autumn ill thrift’ which can have many causes with internal parasites – lice are top of the list. But there are a host of other reasons and your veterinarian will need to do blood tests to sort things out. Salmonella and yersiniosis are possible causes, as is feed quality.
Internal parasites in cattle have become more resistant to the main chemical families due to the overuse of pour-on chemicals (endectocides), which are easy to use compared to oral drenching. There is widespread resistance to Cooperia parasites in cattle. Faecal egg counts need to be used to help accurate diagnosis and what product to use.
Biting/blood-sucking lice can also
be a hazard for young stock and will stop them thriving; their numbers will be worse on calves in poor condition. Check for them on the shoulders and around the tail. A severe attack can kill calves so get vet advice about the best treatment, again to prevent resistance to chemicals developing.
Cattle of all ages on autumn pasture need fibre to improve digestion, so good quality silage or hay should be fed, making sure they are not wasting it or pugging the paddock near feeders when soils are wet.
Build a standoff area, but ensure it meets local council regulations, and is not a source of effluent escape into waterways. Don’t stand cattle on concrete or hard surfaces for more than a day, and provide dry areas for them to lie down on.
Don’t stop FE prevention because the nights are cooling off. With frequent rises in spore counts over the season, animals will be highly sensitised to the toxin and it takes very little to cause more liver damage. Watch for ryegrass staggers too in cattle (and horses) which is another autumn fungal toxin caused by spores that grow on dead ryegrass seed heads.
Everyone is trying to keep cool during the heat of summer, and for us this means fresh salad meals followed by ice cream or ice blocks. I’m a cup of tea person and prefer that beverage to anything else, but occasionally I enjoy an ice block. Even our Jack Russell terrier Tessa loves them so I make a few especially for her and doggy visitors which is a great way to keep them happy.
Ice blocks are really easy to make and can include fruit, juices, milk, or yoghurt which is delicious and healthy too.
Even vegetable juice can make a refreshing icy cold block. It is surprisingly easy to get children to eat fruit and vegetables they otherwise reject by simply freezing the ingredients in ice blocks.
Ice blocks can be made in the old fashioned way with a wooden stick frozen into the block or in specially designed plastic trays with wands that freeze into the mixture. There are even ice block makers just like ice cream churns, and slushy makers too.
The problem is, every summer I find that some of the plastic bits are missing from my moulds. I try to be organised but some must go out with the rubbish or get hidden in that magical place you’ll find in most kitchens where plastic bits go to expire. I usually end up with wooden ice block sticks (bought by the packet from the supermarket) and small paper cups as moulds. At least these are disposable and you can make large or small ice blocks.
If you are lucky enough to have the really old ice cube trays that hold a lot of juice, fill the whole tray and place a wooden stick in each cube. The kids don’t care how they are shaped as long as they are cold and tasty. The smaller size is easier for young children to hold too.
If you don’t have home-made yoghurt, use one of the large containers of commercial yoghurt, although it will make the ice blocks quite expensive. Look out for yoghurt marked down in your supermarket because it’s close to its expiry date and you can save some money.
Another option is to buy a packet yoghurt mix, culture it and make your frozen blocks from the thick liquid. method Pour the yoghurt into a deep bowl or jug with a pouring lip or a food processor. Cut up the strawberries – I use six or so, but you can use as many as you like – then mash or blitz into the yoghurt. Add the icing sugar if your yoghurt is really sour and mix or blitz again. Pour your mixture into a dozen ice block moulds. You will find lots of strawberry seeds at the bottom of the bowl – discard these. Freeze your blocks overnight. They will keep for a couple of months in the freezer if you hide them, otherwise a few days.