Feeding the Spring Calver

A SPRING calving suckler cow is an animal that needs to be functional, productive and easy to keep.

If she doesn’t tick the all of these boxes then she should be classified as a luxury you can’t afford! There is much debate about the cost of keeping a suckler cow which is not surprising when you consider that over 75% of variable costs of the cow is accounted for by feeding. Winter feeding and the cost of grass silage in particular is an area where there is the potential for savings to be made. We need to imagine that for a spring calving cow that her peak body condition is around now i.e at housing; as they come off grass cows will typically have a condition score between 3 and 4. Cows being housed in this condition can afford to and indeed should lose some condition in the run up to calving. This will mean they are fitter calving down and less likely to give rise to calving difficulty. So if well managed, a cow may drop from a condition score of 3.5 at housing to 2.75 at calving without any adverse effects on the cow or calf.

What is the significance of dropping 0.75 of body condition score? In real terms it means a cow will lose between 50-60kg liveweight from housing to calving. In feed terms it equates to the equivalent to 210kg of barley or up to 1.5t of a 67%DMD silage. In monetary terms is works out around €40-45 per cow. This is an obvious saving that can be made in many cases.

In order to use body condition scoring effectively you need to familiarise yourself with the 0 – 5 scoring process where 0 is basically ‘skin and bone’ to 5 which is grossly overfat. The three assessment points are, along the loin, over the ribs and the tail head. It is a good topic for a discussion group to assess condition scores and for farmers that are members of KT groups they have an opportunity to see the system in practice. Cows should to be checked regularly from housing right through to calving and grouped and fed accordingly. Most cows will fall in the body condition score range of 2 – 4. The ideal condition for the spring calving suckling cow is between 2.5 and 3 at calving. If cows are below a score of 2.5 they will need to be fed up and above condition score 3 cows should be slimmed down or restricted and their condition monitored. In order to improve condition you are looking at 2-3 kg of 18% CP ration daily with straw or average quality silage. Very thin cows can be offered an additional 1.5 kg concentrates daily. Overfat cows should be on a restricted silage only diet prior to calving while cows in optimum condition will suffice with unrestricted silage diet prior to calving.

However even when cows are being restricted pre-calving a good mineral supplementation is essential in the 4-6 weeks pre-calving for cow health and calf vitality. A good mineral will contain adequate amounts of magnesium, selenium, iodine and vitamin E.

Photo by Shanon Kinahan Supermarket Beef Heifer Champion from this year Commercial Cattle Winter Fair which was held in Ennis at the request of the winners! Pictured are Mark and Neil Blennerhassett (owners) and AIB Sponsor.