Land is burning up as our year of extreme weather takes another twist

to the winter snow storms and harsh April winds on a daily basis.

Now the issues are poor grass growth — some of the land is starting to burn up.

The wetter areas of the farm or the fields with good grazing covers are working away nicely.

I have introduced a number of measures to deal with the conditions.

One bag of sulpha can per acre has been spread on half the grazing area, with the remainder getting the equivalent next week.

I have introduced two kgs of meal in the form of a beef nut for the store heifers and cull cows. I hope to have these animals factory-fit later in the year.

The meal should slow down their demand for grass, improve their weight gain and conformation score and help with their temperament when they need to be moved.

The water wells on the farm are barely able to keep up with demand. There isn’t much I can do about it now, but maybe for next year I could replace some of the water troughs with both faster filling and larger capacity models.

The stock themselves seem very contented. The breeding season has been progressing well, with a lot of cows served and little or no repeats.

One thing I have noticed is that calves have been giving a sharp cough in the morning while been herded.

I would assume they have some lung worm which may sound unusual given the dry year.

Usually I don’t administer the first worm dose till mid-July, but it looks like I should dose these calves in the next few days before it becomes a problem. I have always used an oral dose over the years but might try