Preparation is well underway for the holiday period to make sure everyone has a good break after another busy year and challenging spring.
Today was the last day of AI for the 2021-22 season with bulls arriving on the farm and going out with the herds. This year we will be running 3 bulls per mob (1 bull/60 cows for the Stds and 1 bull/55 cows for the LI) and rotating the remaining 6 in and out as required.
o For the first few days we will run an extra bull per herd as this period corresponds to 3 weeks after our last round of CIDR’s so we could expect more returns during this period.
o Bulls will be painted and numbered for easy identification and rotation through the herds
Key Decisions:
• Both standard farmlets have surplus pasture after a week of good growth so x1 paddock from each has been removed for conservation.
• The LI farmlets are now getting their second round of N for the season and with the moisture also present now, these paddocks should have strong regrowth coming through over the next few weeks.
• The FB herds will continue to get FB in the paddock, however there is only around 1 week’s worth of FB left to feed.
• Inshed feeding will remain for the kale herds for the next week but due to improving feed quality coming through the wedge, the plan is for a non-deficit supplement to be removed from all herds after the next farm walk once the cows have grazed the last of the paddocks with significant seedhead.
• Supplementary feed will be reintroduced if herds move into a feed deficit. For the kale herds, this will be in the form of in-shed feed and the FB cows will receive baleage.
• All 4 farmlets will continue on a 25-day round, as after a reflection on last year, 30 days is too long through the summer on this farm.
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