Top tips for reducing the heavy workload at calving
Every year I underestimate the workload of the calving season. The days are even longer than I anticipate, with maybe 6am starts and a final check in the calving box at 11pm. Some farmers work 100-hour weeks.
Downtime is scarce, and even then you’re on call or tagging and registering calves, organising the BVD and genotyping samples for posting etc.
To maximise the chances of a trouble-free calving period, we all know how vital it is to have the cows at the correct body condition score, to feed a good dry cow mineral and to implement a suitable vaccination programme.
Then if we get a reasonable period of weather it’s half the battle.
Beyond that there are other actions we can take to improve things.
Last year, in an effort to make better use of our time during the spring, our discussion group took on the ‘60hour challenge’, which I feel is something every dairy farmer should do, simply to track your daily routine.
Keeping tabs on how much time was given to each task throughout the first six weeks of the calving period does require a few minutes recording in an already very busy day. However, looking back afterwards it gave a greater understanding of the chores that take up more time than you realise.
Calf rearing was of course top of the list on all farms, but within that area there were big variations perhaps due to the shed itself, automation and available help, combined with general calf health due to good husbandry, vaccinations etc.
A similar theme emerged in terms of early grazing. This was hugely influenced by weather of course, along with grass availability, but beyond that good infrastructure and spur roads had an impact on the time it consumed.
Some of the group were able to close the yard gate at night for a few hours and start work early the following morning, while others felt they would not be comfortable doing that.
Some members said they would be willing to postpone jobs, whereas others thought you would be storing up trouble.
One of the requests was to record your mood, and this shifted almost every day, which I saw as a very real concern.
Tiredness was a big factor which highlighted the necessity to get adequate rest — and usually extra help/ labour was the suggested solution.
Animal health, from milk fever to feeding electrolytes to calves, was an unplanned demand for your time — and it impacted negatively on your mood.
This year I suspect calves will be in yards longer as genotyping becomes part of the registration process and will inevitably encounter teething problems, which will increase the workload.
The Nitrates Derogation is another huge factor this year weighing on all farmers’ minds to ensure slurry is spread in the correct weather conditions.
The slurry spreading season is well under way, yet the weather, while mild, has not been suitable for spreading slurry. Tanks are full even on farms that have more than the required 16/20 weeks storage.
The persistent rainfall here in the west continues to affect our day-today farming. At the time of writing we are 10 days calving and have almost half the herd calved, but in complete contrast to this time last year, we have been forced to implement on/off grazing to protect the saturated ground.
We have two 5th year students (Evan and Jake) with us this week so we started twice-a-day milking a week earlier than normal. They are both very interested and hands-on at the milking already, and that help is crucial at this time of the year.
A huge bonus is the variety of conversations at meal times and the natural boost that comes with taking your mind off farming even for a short while. As the old phrase goes, “a change can be as good as a rest”.
‘It gave a greater understanding of the chores that take up more time than you realise’