29 December 2024
Recap: Preparing your calves for sale in 2025
The Teagasc DairyBeef 500 team recently hosted the first in a series of two webinars, which focused on preparing the cow now to produce a healthy and viable calf for sale next spring and devising a breeding plan to continue increasing the genetic merit of dairy beef calves into the future.
In preparation for the dairy cow calving down in the coming months, Emma Sargent, MSD Animal Health looked at managing the cow during the dry period, by addressing cow nutrition, dry cow hygiene and vaccinating the dry cow to maximise calf health at birth and afterwards.
Teagasc Dairy Specialist, Stuart Childs outlined the calf housing space required for different calving rates and varying age of sales of calves. He also highlighted the key timeframes in relation to calf movement regulations.
Looking forward to 2025, Alan Twomey, Munster Bovine gave useful advice and tips on planning a successful breeding season to produce high-quality replacement dairy heifers whilst at the same time producing high genetic merit dairy beef calves for sale.
Following the informative presentations, there was a live panel discussion where viewers’ questions were answered.
If you missed the webinar, you can watch a recording below:
To find out more about the Teagasc DairyBeef 500 Campaign click here.