Well, here we are, almost through the worst of the winter, the shortest day has been and gone and we are only a few weeks away from the start of spring.

After the last few weeks of wind and rain I can almost hear the cries of another Tui’s advert coming out with the famous “yeah, right”.

Although the North has had its fair share of bad weather, and it’s got very, very wet, those of you who put together some plans, feed budgets and stocking rate plans, should have been able to avoid making your places look like a boggy mess, and your livestock wishing they were somewhere else.

With your stock level and feed levels in good shape at this time of the year, the opportunity to take advantage of stock and feed supply shortages, both in the prime and store stock markets is greatly increased.

As we mentioned in our previous article, the winter months can be quite intense, what with using electric fence strip grazing, moving stock regularly to avoid damaging pastures, the feeding of supplements like hay, silage etc, through to checking animal health, calving, lambing and the like, combined with wet, cold, windy days and you start wondering how enjoyable farming can be.

However, it is also a time to reflect on where you need to position yourself and your farming enterprise over the next few weeks as the spring’s warmer weather and your pastures start to recover and spring into life.

Another round of planning needs to be done regarding stocking rates, market’s being targeted, eg finishing, or store, as well as options to include the ability to grow surplus feed to make into supplement feeds for next winter or a dry summer/autumn like hay and silage etc.

Also with this round of planning, pasture renewals, fertilizer programmes, and your animal health programmes being looked at, your plans for these can start to take some shape now with winter being almost over.

With the demand for supplement feeds being at a premium this year due to the drought and now a very wet winter across the country, the options of growing a crop like maize etc rather than farming animals may also look more attractive to a few.

Spring time brings with it a lot of new born animals and for those of you who want to raise calves, or are, you will now be right into it. Remember the need for good shelter, clean dry areas for your calves and remember to use/have a quarantine area before introducing them into your mobs to avoid any bugs being transferred amongst your healthy animals.

Be very selective in the types, quality, health and breeds of your calves as getting a good start across all these factors will determine how well you and your calves do.

So get your local agent out to talk over your options and opportunities available to you, and enjoy the warm weather just around the corner.

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