It pays to have everything in place ahead of calving

With the calving season starting on suckler farms, preparation, organisation and planning are key management skills that will help during the busy weeks ahead, writes Francis Bligh.

A live healthy calf from each cow is what every suckler farmer sets out to achieve, so one of the most important facilities required is a clean, dry well-bedded pen for a cow showing signs of calving.

Safe and secure gates will ensure nothing collapses, and a head gate and calving gate will help to restrain a cow if assistance is required.

These pens should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before use.

It is important to discuss vaccination options against scour with your vet. Where calves receive adequate colostrum soon after birth, vaccinations have a proven ability to reduce scour problems and associated workload.

For weaker calves or where colostrum is not plentiful, it is important to have a few litres of colostrum in the freezer.

Three to four litres of colostrum in the first 2-3 hours is crucial.

Try to make sure you have the following items to hand: clean calving ropes, disposable gloves, iodine or chlorohexidine solution to treat navels, a clean calving jack, lubricant, electrolyte powders for scour treatment and a clean stomach tube.

Now is the time to replace light bulbs, improve lighting, set up a red lamp and check drinkers.

If you have broadband, low-cost wireless cameras linked to mobile routers are becoming very popular in calving sheds.

Watching the cow through a laptop or mobile phone can help reduce visits to the shed.

When organising calving think about the location of gates to help make movement of cows between slatted pens/ loose housing and calving boxes easy.

Keep an eye on cow body condition, silage quality and mineral requirements to make sure cows are in a healthy, fit condition at calving.

Francis Bligh is a Teagasc drystock adviser based in Longford