Herd Management and winter feeding

[Howard]

Hi

My wife (sue) and I are new to Dexters, though have some experience with sheep, we have two small flocks of Rylands.

At the end of summer we bought 3 cows, each with a calf at foot. since then the cows have been with the bull and we are hoping that next year we have three more calves.

Our cows are out at the moment as we intend them to be all through the winter, but thy do have access to a fully enclosed shelter should they need it, and to be fair, they seem to go into it every night now.

We would like to keep the cows away from concentrate, raising them on grass feed as possible supplemented with fodder beet over winter. Whilst we have read some of the information from Eblex on feeding it seems more directed at the large commercial flocks.

Currently we are feeding hay cut with a little haylage and fodder beet and have given them a mineral block for nutrients. Is this okay for the cows to maintain condition through winter, while feeding the calves as they are not weaned yet and leave them in a good condition for developing the calf they will hopefully have next year.

There seems to be as many different ways to do things as people we talk to, but as Dexter keepers we would be very interested in what you do and also with meeting and visiting with other herd owners in the area.


Thanks for now
Howard

[Louisa Gidney]

If you're ever through Co. Durham on the A68, you are welcome to visit my herd at Tow Law. All outside at the moment. If the weather holds, cows will be out for another month before coming in to the barn to calve Feb onwards. Bulls and steer will remain out.

[Rob R]

Hi Howard,

We're not too far away from you, and you're welcome to visit us. See our website for contact details; www.rosewoodfarms.co.uk

We only feed hay & silage during the winter, with a seaweed mineral supplement, housing when the grass runs out. Last year that was the end of October, with all the flooding, usually it is around end of December/into January. They're housed separate from most of the grazing so it's an all-in/out system. The cows calve late Spring, although we're starting an Autumn calving herd next year, so some will still be suckling young calves and going in with the bull and the others will be due for weaning when they come in. By that stage the Spring calves will be taking less out of their dams and able to manage fine on hay/haylage and fodder beet, depending upon the quality of the hay/haylage (last year we had to supplement with molasses to get the cows through the winter with the low quality of the forage, the youngstock had just the best forage) they might not need any extra.

[Broomcroft]

Hello

Ours stay out depending on the weather, if constant rain they come in. Had rain scald one year and don't want it again apart from the mud! But OK this year as it's fairly dry'ish. Ours all have calves at foot, spring born which will be weaned about Christmas time when they will probably all come inside for calving March. All on good quality ad-lib hay, plus mineral licks, and are in fine conditions.

Just a comment and it might be just the use of a word, but mineral "block" to me could mean a feed block? i.e. something that is softer and they tend to scrape and eat quite quickly. Generally, I'd keep those away from cows in calf other than high-mag versions if you're worried about mag deficiency as we are here. A lot of blocks are very high feed value, so could end up with bigger calves than expected or fat cows. Never done it, but would be like feeding them concentrate I'd guess.

Just a note, how old are your calves and are any females? If they are still in with the bull they can get in calf at a very young age. Been there, got the medal more than once unfortunately!

[Howard]

Hi,

thanks for your replies. the blocks that they have are Rumenco - Rumivite protine and energy which contains yeast and helps them to make effective use of their hay. It is also suitable for sheep ( as they were sharing with the rams for a time) and they have a bucket of supalyx cattle booster with copper which they have in a horse feeder on the gate to prevent the sheep getting it.

Their hay is ad-lib and they have a ring indoors so they can all go inside for a snack or a snooze. They are all looking well with a condition score of about 3 and their calves, the oldest of which will be 8 months on 3rd Dec are eating a bit of everything that the cows eat plus their milk.

We would like to take up your offers for a visit as its great to learn from others and compare.

[Fen Farm Dexters]

Rob
Your seaweed supplement - we've been looking for this having read Julius Ruechel's Grass -fed Cattle book - where can I source some, if you don't mind me asking?

[Rob R]

Ascott do it by the individual bags, but I've just checked their website and they're out of stock at the moment. We get it from Dairy Direct (http://www.dairy-direct.co.uk/) by the pallet load (40 bags).