Purchasing a new stock bull doesn’t make sense to me now

Calving has gone well so far, with 19 calved by St Patrick’s weekend, and all will be calved by the end of March.

The big advantage of calving in eight to ten weeks is that I can now turn off the calving camera .

I used a Charolais AI bull last year on the plainer cows and while the cows calved no problem, the calves had a heavy birth-weight — over 55kg.

As a part-time farmer I don’t want any trouble so I will have to decide whether to use the same bull again this year.

Striking that balance between producing quality stock and calving ease needs some planning.

However, as I use AI there is a great choice of bulls that I can match to each individual cow.

While the cows are in on slats, the calves can creep back to a straw-bedded area.

During the day I open the doors and they take off in full flight to the adjacent fields. While there is plenty of noise from their worried mothers the calves love the freedom. It is a lovely sight to see!

They all find their way back come evening time.

While I did get some cattle out in February I had to rehouse again. Luckily, I have plenty of fodder but nothing beats having cows and young calves out on grass.

I am actually giving the cows 1kg of meal to keep up their body condition.

I will start to AI on April 26. These weeks I am examining the AI catalogues and picking out bulls to match the cows and heifers.

I will make sure the straws are in the AI man’s flask well in advance of the start date.

As I work off-farm, I use Moo heat as a heat detection aid. I wouldn’t be able to use AI without it.

The system works by putting on a collar on a vasectomised bull. The cow has a special tag and when he mounts the cow, I get a text on my phone.

I have the collar charged up and the vasectomised bull is ready to go. I will put the collar on and run him with the herd for four weeks before the start of AI.

Acclimatised

This is important and the bull will have acclimatised to the herd, but also I will have a full set of heats recorded before April 26.

I will scan any cow or heifer that doesn’t show heat in that period and treat her accordingly. By the time the breeding season starts all of the herd will be cycling. This helps keeps the calving period compact.

It has taken a few years to be competent with AI. Normally I would AI for six weeks and use a Limousin bull to mop up.

He is only serving two to three cows at this stage. The bull is getting old and his feet are not 100pc.

Spending €3,000-4,000 on another bull, to serve three or four cows doesn’t make sense.

Also having a bull around when there are children with me sometimes is a concern. We can never be too careful.