PREPARING FOR CALVING NEWSLETTER - CLICK TO VIEW

As we slowly begin to leave the dark evenings and mornings behind us, we approach the calving season. Pre-calving is an important period to assess condition score (BCS) as a quick and comprehensive evaluation of cow health that leads to informed decisions about nutritional supplementation and adjust feeding strategies to optimize cow and calf health.

Pre-calving blood tests offer valuable diagnostic insights into the metabolic status of your cows. Bloods give us vital information about energy reserves and protein levels, helping identify potential nutritional deficiencies or metabolic challenges that will impact calving success and subsequent calf performance. Detecting and addressing these issues earlycan significantly reduce the risk of calving complications and improve overall herd productivity.

Pre-calving bloods

Blood sampling dams pre-calving assesses energy and mineral status allowing us to correct nutritional issues to contribute to a smoother calving period. Good nutrition and management in the latter end of pregnancy along with the first few weeks post calving is essential to ensure profitability in your beef suckler herd. Nutritional issues can be a common contributing factor when cows fail to get back in calf. Forage analysis is vital to enable us to alter the ration once we have interpreted the results, so this is something to bear in mind.

We recommend sampling a minimum of 6 cows per group and this must be done a minimum of 3-4 weeks before calving begins. The cattle will need to have been on this diet for at least 2 weeks before sampling to ensure the blood parametershave had time to adjust!