Five things to consid

SPRING calving suckler cows are now in mid or late pregnancy. Pre-calving management and preparing for calving is crucial in reducing problems at calving time. The following you should be considered: As pregnancy progresses, the space required by suckler cows increases.

If your pens are overstocked, cow performance will suffer, due to restricted movement in pens which reduces free access to forage.

If feeding concentrates, make sure all cows can eat at the barrier. experience calving difficulties while thin cows (BCS2 or less) may suffer depressed milk yield and may be delayed returning to heat for the next breeding season.

Restrict feed to fat cows, while thin cows may need concentrates in order to meet their BCS target at calving time.

Grouping cows on body condition will allow feeding levels to be targeted to nutritional demand.

The ideal situation is where cows can be split into three groups – fat cows can have fodder restricted depending on quality, cows in ideal body condition can be fed ad lib silage and thin cows will require supplementation with concentrates.

It is important to act early – research at Grange has shown you cannot reduce calving difficulty by starving cows. Equally over feeding concentrates in the last few weeks approaching calving in the hope of getting cows into the required body condition does