In the last 10 days I reckon the number of farmers who have called me for advice has almost doubled. The drought is testing everyone, so its good that farmers are seeking advice and input into their drought plans.
I have written about the importance of drought plans having dates where decisions must be taken. What is also as important is to make decisions based on your farm records and objective data.
It seems that most famers are considering a number of options to implement in the next few weeks. These include:
Herd reductions
Increased feeding
Early Weaning
Reducing your herd can be a difficult decisions of some producers. There is an understandable hesitation when the market is flooded with cattle.
But it is important to consider the costs associated with keeping cattle on.
This isn't just feed costs, but also labour with feeding those cattle.
Last week I was talking with a farmer who said to me times like these can be an opportunity. He uses the dry period to go through his cow herd, taking out the older cows, the late calving cows and those with other less desirable traits.
Rather than just selling those cows through the local yards, he has looked for opportunities to sell direct to processors and has managed to find a good rate for those cull cows.
I know not everyone can take this opportunity of sending cattle direct, particularly with processors booked up with cattle. But I reckon it is important to recognise their are opportunities if you are prepared to look for them.
The other part of reducing your herd is to identify the least productive animals.
Having good records, including calving percentages and weaning percentages will help identify those animals. Pregnancy testing the cow herd is another option to identify herd productivity.
I reckon pregnancy testing helps identify not only the cows which are non pregnant and can be sold straight away, it also lets you determine the late calvers and gives you some good data to work on if you need to sell off more animals as part of your plan.
If you are planning on increasing your feeding, I encourage you to work on the costs of not only purchasing the feed, but the time and effort to feed out as well.
If you go into full hand feeding, most programs will require daily feeding. The time and effort associated with this needs to be recognised.
When you do start to feed, I reckon its essential to put cattle into mobs of similar fat scores and weights. This helps avoid lighter and leaner cattle being bullied.
If you do start feeding, its vital to keep records of the feeds you use, the amounts you feed and the details of where the feed came from. These records need to be included when you sell cattle or for future reference.
I reckon good decisions in this period are not just timely ones. The best decisions are timely and based on good records which can fine tune the decisions or even help you find opportunities which may not have been so obvious at the start.
Don't forget if you need some input or want a second opinion to get in touch with me. I'm always happy to provide some ideas or support.