Supplements required at Rovie farm for high health

Integral to this approach is the use of boluses in the critical weeks before calving.

“I would not want to be calving cows without pre-calving mineral boluses. It’s a simple and cost-effective procedure that provides the assurance we need regarding mineral supplementation,” said Mr Moodie.

Sutherland farmer John Moodie relies on boluses ahead of calving to ensure cows receive adequate supplementation of trace elements and minerals for up to 180 days. In an area with nutrient deficiencies, this supports calf vigour and herd health

Farming at Rovie Farm, near Rogart, since the 1970s, and running a largely forage-based system, John has long been aware of the potential for mineral deficiencies. He recalls an SAC blood testing initiative that confirmed the widely understood need to supplement copper and cobalt in the area, and highlighted a previously unknown need for selenium. He has also witnessed incidences of long bone disease in calves in the past, a condition associated with a lack of manganese.

Now running around 50 Limousin cross Beef Shorthorn suckler cows, alongside a flock of 200 Scotch Mule and Blackface sheep, John has fine-tuned a simple but effective self-contained farming system with healthy stock as the bedrock of his success.

He’s a great believer in the merits of hybrid vigour as a further contributor to herd health, taking care in the choice of bulls to use with his cross-bred suckler cows. The terminal sire is a Limousin cross British Blue to achieve the optimum balance of easy calving and early calf vigour.

Stronger calves, steers, are sold as stores at 10-11 months old, with most heifers taken through to finish at 18-20 months, averaging 350-370kg carcase weights.

“We maintain grass quality by keeping all the leys young, rarely having any grassland older than four years. Grass reseeding works in with around 55-60 acres of barley that we grow every year, all of the grain being urea-treated to create a 16% protein feed for our own use,” said John who tends to follow the winter barley with stubble turnips, which provide most of the feed for the ewes in the winter.

After weaning, cows go onto a straw diet, supplemented with distillers’ grains (draff) and a balancing mineral, through to the end of January. They then go onto a low-quality silage in the lead up to calving.

Sutherland farmer John Moodie relies on boluses ahead of calving to ensure cows receive adequate supplementation of trace elements and minerals for up to 180 days. In an area with nutrient deficiencies, this supports calf vigour and herd health

“We don’t take our first silage cut until later in June, allowing it to become quite stemmy. This means we have a lower quality forage for the cows in later pregnancy, which helps to avoid any calving problems. Our second cut will be a higher quality forage, which is ideal for the weaned and fattening cattle.”

At around six weeks before calving, all of the cows at Rovie Farm receive EnduraBol high iodine boluses from Nettex. The two boluses provide sustained release of copper, zinc, cobalt, iodine, selenium and manganese as well as vitamins A, D3 and E. The boluses are designed to provide a consistent and reliable delivery of nutrients for a period of up to 180 days.

For the cow, this helps to reduce calving issues, aids recovery post-calving, and will help ensure cows are fit for their next conception. At the same time, optimum supply of essential trace elements and vitamins in the weeks before calving helps to meet peak demand in terms of foetal development.

"If calves are vigorous and sucking strongly in the first few hours, the risks of any later problems fall away dramatically," he concluded.