The year is almost behind us, and before the spring calving season gets underway, farmers should develop a herd health plan and see where things can be improved.
Farmers should reflect on how the year has gone before facing into a new calving season where there was potentially mistakes made.
First and foremost, farmers need to make sure that the housing environment over the winter period is kept to a high standard, so that cows aren’t calving down with high cell count or a blind quarter.
Farmers need to make sure roadways are in good condition and any that may be in need of repair before the next grazing season are rectified shortly, as this is not something you will have time to do once spring kicks off.
Poor grazing infrastructure can have an affect on paddock access but primarily on cows’ feet.
Herd health plan
Taking hold of your milk records and utilising them to form a herd health plan for 2025 is crucial, as farmers should be using the insights from their records to identify any previous issues on the farm.
This should be used to create a tailored plan to make the year run smoothly, with vaccination protocols, calf feeding, colostrum management and dosing all included in the plan.
Farmers should create standard operating procedures (SOPs ) for all sorts of farm tasks, including the milking routine, washing the milking parlour, calf feeding, and many other tasks that dairy farmers perform daily.
SOPs can be very useful for day-to-day operations on the farm, as it allows for dairy farmers and their employees to work towards a common goal and ensure the correct procedure is carried out and being completed in the busy period.
The calving season is a busy time of the year and farmers should schedule their milk recording in early for within the first six weeks of calving, as availability might get scarce the longer you leave it.
You might not be able to get all of the herd recorded in the first six weeks of calving, however, the early data will be invaluable in assessing the dry period performance and getting the year off to a good start.
If farmers can follow these few steps, it will go a long way in helping with a successful new year, a successful calving season and a successful grazing season.
