Farmer Focus: 200-day calf weights up 6kg despite dry summer

We have just experienced our first dump of snow this winter. It causes more hassle for us than it does for the cattle outside.

About a foot of snow fell over a couple of days, which left frozen electric fences sagging with ice, leading to some problems.

November saw us finish weaning our calves, pregnancy and blood test our cows, and get the tups out with the ewe flock.

See also: 4 essential checks to improve suckler herd efficiency

About the author

Duncan Morrison

Duncan farms owned and tenanted land with his wife, Claire in Aberdeenshire. They run a small Lleyn ewe flock and around 260 Aberdeen Angus and Stabiliser cows and are a QMS Monitor Farm. Operating a low-cost system, stock are outwintered on deferred grass, bale grazing and forage crops.

Read more articles by Duncan Morrison

At this time of year, I usually update my KPI spreadsheet and compare performance with previous years so that I can come up with a plan on how to improve.

Despite the summer being incredibly dry, the adjusted 200-day weight for our calves was up 6kg on the previous year, and the cow herd up 0.1 of a body condition score, on average.

They say that cattle thrive better than you’d think in the sunshine, and that seems to be true in this case.

The real disappointment has been realising that our artificial insemination (AI) programme probably needs work.

We put a lot of effort into maintaining a tight calving period, and now we have been bulling for two cycles for several years, I’m sure it’s working well for us.

However, when we have AI’d cows in the pedigree herd, it has always been after a synchronising programme.

This is timed to happen just before the bulls go into the main herd.

It’s been a challenging year, especially with the weather and forage shortages

Upon further examination, a disproportionate number of our empty cows had been synchronised, AI’d and chased up with the bull.

I have heard of others with similar issues following synchronisation, so I think I need to go back to the drawing board.

I have completed an AI course, so next year I should have the ability to use natural heats, rather than having to use a sync programme to justify calling an AI technician.

It’s been a challenging year, especially with the weather and forage shortages.

We have made plenty of mistakes, but we always try to learn from them.

There have been successes too, and taking on a new farm next door is something that really gets the juices flowing.

I’m excited about the future in the red meat sector, though sadly, that is a view not everyone shares.

I’m reminded of an Oscar Wilde quote: “A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks”.