Pastures

Hopefully the ‘spring flush’ of pasture should have appeared in the North Island – and it has stopped raining! But this will depend on how much area you were able to close up over winter. Many farms have wintered too many stock so have no surplus grass for lambing and calving. All they have is hay, which won’t fill the nutritional void. Stock love to lie on it on wet pastures!

It’s also the time when you realise that you should have got the fertiliser on in autumn, to help the new season’s growth. Using Nitrogen to get a pasture boost is a last resort, but it won’t last for long if the basic N, P, and K are deficient.

It’s a good time to check, when pasture starts to grow – to see what actually grows! Look for ryegrass with its shiny underside of the leaf and pink membrane near the root. That’s the grass you want. Large clumps of coarse-leaved Cocksfoot should have been grazed or mown off in autumn, or they’ll just keep on getting bigger. Furry Yorkshire fog is easy to indentify and has low nutritional value although stock eat it with relish. Browntop (sown as a lawn grass) indicates very low fertility, and feels springy when you walk across the paddock because of its dead accumulated material, which stops new growth coming through. If you have Kikuyu – that’s all you’ll get as it chokes out everything else. You’ll need a long-term programme to try to get rid of it.

Clover! Where is the clover should be your permanent cry?   It’s a highly nutritious feed for all stock and also provides grasses with free Nitrogen from the air. That’s why the target in a pasture should be 70% grass and 30% clover. Clover plants need light and are easily shaded out by long overgrown pasture plants. Healthy clover wont’ grown on low fertility soils – so again, fix your soil fertility status.

Weeds are starting to grow, especially thistles and ragwort, so learn to identify them correctly and get advice on what should be done in the young leaf stage. Don’t leave them till they have built up massive food reserves in their roots and have seeded like so many folk do.

Running out of feed is a regular event on farms in spring, and it can be very expensive when cash not in the budget, and has to be found to buy in supplements at crazy prices. It’s in the ‘second grazing round’ where trouble strikes. Saved pasture that you see blowing in the wind, reaching the top of short gumboots, is in excess of 4000kg DM/ha and you think feed will never run out.

If regrowth is slow, there’s always a long list of reasons (or excuses), the main one being the weather - the cold wind, the lack of sun, the wet ground! It’s really poor management in letting the pasture get too long. The biggest sin is to graze too low and not leave enough ‘residual’ pasture to generate the regrowth. This residual should be at least 1100kg DM/ha or 50mm long.

To fill any feed gap, use up your wrapped silage or balage, as well as any past-season’s hay, as these feeds deteriorate in feeding value with age. Feeding hay is ideal to counteract the very high protein and low fibre of spring pasture.

It has been a terrible winter and spring for pasture damage. So sort out what you can sow on the pugged areas, and how you can avoid this next season. Get some information about a stand-off pad regarding drainage etc to avoid environmental damage.

Sheep

The bulk of lambing should be over in the North Island and early lambs docked, so it’s time to check flock performance. There are eight different ways to work out a ‘lambing percentage’ some of which fudge important costly issues like how many dry/dry (barren) and wet/dry ewes (lambed and lost lambs) there were.

The best figure is ‘lambs docked/100 ewes to the ram’. It should be over 120% these days regardless of the breed of sheep. If it’s not, then check where the wastage occurred, to fix things for next season. Ewes that didn’t rear a lamb or more to weaning need to be culled.

You should have had the flock vaccination programme sorted out with your vet before lambing, but double-check that lambs are covered for pulpy kidney and tetanus. Pulpy kidney always seems to kill the biggest lambs.

Too many lambs have their tails docked too short. The tail dock should cover the vulva of a ewe lamb and the equivalent in the male. This allows lambs to wag their tails when passing faeces and tends to keep them cleaner. See the Sheep Code of Welfare available on the MAF website. Some farmers are claiming growth benefits from not docking at all, especially for lambs to be sold before Christmas.

There’s always intense advertising pressure about now for farmers to drench stock, accompanied by attractive freebees. Don’t drench lambs at docking – only start considering drenching lambs at weaning. And mature ewes should not need drenching. If ewes are really skinny, the problem is more likely to be lack of feed prior to lambing. Don’t drench any sheep before you have some definitive evidence from a Faecal Egg Count (FEC).

Give your best feed to heavy-milking ewes, especially those suckling multiples. Farmers with high-fertility flocks run triplets with the twins, rather than on their own and with singles. There’s a greater chance of a stray triplet sneaking a feed in the melee of many lambs and confused mothers.

Dag all dirty ewes, as when it warms up. The Aussie green blowfly will be around. Dirty ewes can spread their dags to lambs and they can get struck too.

Ewes and lambs need plenty of good clean water, and cover troughs with mesh to prevent lambs drowning as they race around.   Book the shearer to get the wool off hoggets in the next few weeks.

Cattle

Calving should be well through in the North Island, and with the increased supply of dairy calves, prices should have eased. Do not pay silly prices for calves, as there’s no profit in them. See our website for information for first-time calf rearers.

Dehorn all calves using the hot iron and an anaesthetic before they are six weeks old. Consult your vet about this. Some private contractors will use anaesthetic and some (without veterinary approval) will not – so ask before you book them. Don’t use caustic paste as the finished job is unpredictable, unlike cauterization.

Calves sucking cows should be growing well. Keep their mothers on good feed with good quality supplements if feed gets short. Expect cows that are multiple suckling to be slow coming on heat.

Pay special attention to any rising yearlings that may have to go to the bull in October. They should be approaching their target weights (see our website) and showing plenty of oestrus activity. Watch the neighbour’s bull, and put an extra hot wire on the boundary fence anticipating his arrival.

It’s time to sort out what bulls you will need, and where to get them. Remember health risks from leased bulls so check with your vet what is needed. If you intend using AI, then contact your AI service provider now. Check our website on the important points of an AI programme and how to keep your AI technician happy. It’s very important.

Make sure stock have a good supply of good quality water - and keep the troughs clean. Don’t treat any cattle for worms with pourons before talking to your vet.

General

Check your financial budget for unexpected expenses in winter. Update your financial records and pay your accounts regularly. There have been far too many deaths of late on farms from machinery. The wet ground has not helped so be ‘safety conscious’ at all times, and especially when the kids are around the lambing and calving paddocks and in the farm sheds where things fall down and fall over!