Farmer Focus: Mineral issue arises again in sucklers

Christmas for the Sandisons was almost “back to normal”, and we were hoping New Year was going to be the same.

Family had come home to Orkney, and we were looking forward to meeting up, but Covid had other ideas. Amazingly, none of us have had the virus yet, but we were in close contact so decided to stay home.

I’m sure there have been times our eldest daughter, Carmen, has wished she didn’t have me for a father. When I asked her to come and help me dismantle shuttering on New Year’s Day would be one of them.

See also: How to diagnose and treat downer cows

About the author

Steven Sandison

Livestock Farmer Focus writer Steven Sandison farms 90 Simmental and Salers-cross suckler cows on the Orkney Islands in partnership with his wife, Lorraine, on 134ha (330 acres). They have a 150-ewe flock of Shetland cross Cheviot ewes. Maximising grass is a priority.

Read more articles by Steven Sandison

Our new lambing shed needs to be finished by the second week of February, when the cows are due to start calving. The weather has been reasonably kind and we’ve made good progress, so I’m hopeful we will make it.

It’s a very quiet time of year with the stock. After having a few cows go down with magnesium/phosphorus deficiency again last year, I am planning to feed pre-calver buckets.

However, writing this three weeks before calving is due, it looks like I’ve left it too late, for one cow has been down already.

Ewes have been split up into smaller groups until scanning later in January. I’ve started going out and feeding them once a week, which makes them a lot easier to work with.

It comes in handy when we don’t have a quad bike or a dog.

I can’t finish this article without mentioning the Orkney Tractor run 2021. A local farmer put a photo on social media of a tractor run somewhere else and suggested it might be good to have one in Orkney.

Support and enthusiasm blossomed and a date between Christmas and New Year was set. Local businesses showed great generosity by giving big discounts on lights.

On the night more than 150 tractors turned out and thousands of people lined the route. In the weeks that have followed more than £50,000 has been raised for two local charities.

It really put a smile on so many faces, and hopefully it will have strengthened connections between the town and country.