Farmer Focus: Lucky not to have badgers round here
Colin Murdoch © Jeff Holmes I’m writing this article in the middle of our TB test. We’re fortunate up here that it’s only every four years. I can’t imagine going through this nightmare every 60 days. My thoughts go out to everyone suffering through it.
See also: Bovine TB test date warning ahead of data system switchover
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I’ve a good friend who has gone over to Denmark to pick cows to replace some that he’s lost to TB and had to be given licence to restock.
I’ll confess I’m not that clear on the science of bovine TB, but there must be a better way to manage it. Maybe a more “Clarksonesque” method of badger control would be appropriate?
I suspect we don’t have the same disease pressures in the local wildlife because setts get flooded by rain. Badgers aren’t aquatic enough to thrive around here.
Three inches of rain in the past week put paid to ploughing plans.
We applied 3,500 gallons/acre of slurry on to all the silage ground while it was dry, and all overwintered stubbles have been blitzed with manure in anticipation of it drying up.
Patience is key with our heavy clay soils. Winter barley is looking decent overall, and the first 35 units of nitrogen applied at the end of February are having an effect.
I can see this because I forgot to turn border control off on the spreader for the first 24m after doing the headland!
Thoughts are turning to our heifers due to calve soon. We’ve refurbished some of our individual pens and moved them to a different shed to hopefully keep disease pressure to a minimum.
We’re slightly short on cow numbers in the milking herd, so the heifers joining will be a welcome addition.
They are calving down at 25-26 months to ensure they are strong enough to go straight in and not look back.
We could have bred them earlier, but Jersey calves do better in warmer conditions.
About 30 heifers will hopefully be sold either pre-calving or just fresh, as we won’t have room for them all.
We had a family day out to Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh recently. It’s a fascinating facility detailing the history of the planet through billions of years – I’d thoroughly recommend going there.
Our two boys loved being in the “time machine” and experiencing an earthquake. Humans have been here for just a slither of history. Earth is constantly changing all by itself. Makes you think.