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Christine Cummins

@christineagric

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Calf specialist | Farmer | Vet Med student 🤓🤠
From a suckler beef farm, rear calves and give on-farm advice. 😄🐮🍼

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RIP Gary. A true legend we will miss greatly. 🕊 by @christineagric

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2 months ago

https://www.donedeal.ie/beefcattle-for-sale/pedigree-angus-aubrac-bulls/42121268?utm_source=android&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=listing_share

@@donedeal_agri_ taken in County Tipperary by @christineagric

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5 months ago

Put in a shift at the university lambing barn. Very high prolificy in these native Polish Ewes with twins and triplets a regular occurrence. Here 18 had lambed so far with just 1 single and 2 ewes with quadruplets. All alive and doing well. taken in Wroclaw, Poland by @christineagric

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6 months ago

It has been a long long winter for the cows and calves. My first time home since they were let out, so nice to see again. Was looking at cow BCS, a lot are borderline considering they are coming up to the final 2 months precalving and some are overweight. Always keeping in mind their history when thinking ahead to calving. It was a challenging winter, one of the toughest things about calving in August is keeping cows in condition during the winter. by @christineagric

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6 months ago

Bull calf orphaned at birth, started out shy and became the biggest boldest baby. Loves to play - with other calves, with people and with his ball, is friends with everyone. Fed by hand from day one, is competitive with his suckler peers for weight and weight gain. Decreasing concentrates to move him out to grazing. #somethinggood #anguscattle by @christineagric

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6 months ago

A year without you.💔 by @christineagric

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2 years ago

How well do your calves eat concentrates/meal?
The timing of when they start consuming large amounts depends heavily on the milk feed they are getting. There are plenty of factors that also contribute, including access (head space) and freshness of the feed. Below is what happened on our farm once in 2016 and again this year.

This year, my calves (some shown here) are on 780g of low jeat skim-based milk replacer and have access to concentrates before I get them at 2-3 weeks. From 4 weeks of age, these calves are all on once daily milk feeds. This means I would be expecting them to be eating at least 0.75/0.8 kg/da by 6 eeeks of age yet, these calves were only eating on average 0.5 kg at 6 weeks and their average daily weight gains were also down (weighed at 5 and 6 weeks of age).
We can say they will eat more in their own time, but on 780g at 80kg, they need to consume more to keep up their weight gains.

Going through all the checks, the only thing that made sense to me was to offer them a different feed, and within 24 hours they were all showing more interest, consuming 0.8-0.9kg/day.

This is just a reminder of how simple a problem can be. by @christineagric

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3 years ago

The first of the new kids on the block.
Picked them up directly from the farm at 11 am. with a clean bedded cattle box. The journey was approximg 1hr 20 min. The idea behind collection at 11 am. was to allow the farmer time to have morning jobs done and enough time for them to settle in before evening feed in their new home.

They average 3 weeks of age and 67 kg.

They were on a daily allowance of 6 litres whole milk before they came to us (approx 750g solids).
I am trying out a new feed pattern this year. They will be fed a total of 780 g of skim based milk powder with an allocation of 1/3rd total daily allowance in the morning and 2/3rd in the evening. They will have 8 hours between feeds during the day and 16 after evening feed. They are on a slow release protein milk powder and the amount of feed drank in one go will influence the length of time it take to digest (due to clotting factor).
They have clean fresh water, concentrates and straw at all times.

#calfrearing #belgianblue #cattle #calftobeef by @christineagric

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3 years ago

Back for a few weeks filling my cup. Great to get back to see the many farms getting on well this spring. So busy I wish I could have fit more in.

Farms doing well this year but I'd imagine with tje recent changeable weather there may be some upcomin challenges in calves. taken in Ireland (country) by @christineagric

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3 years ago

Throwback to previous springtimes, a lot of road, powder, and calves. Busy carrying out feeder calibrations, feed plans, and problem solving. I am grateful to all the calves and farmers for everything they taught me over the years, and I'm looking forward to getting back on the road for a bit during February with my 2 boys. Hopefully, I will be of some assistance during the busy period this year! #calving24 by @christineagric

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3 years ago

Heifers were scanned... They were put to the bull over 7 weeks; 23 of them were hand-picked and hand reared from a few weeks of age. 100% of these are in calf. Unfortunately, 2 heifers are not in calf (overall 93% in-calf rate), but a good outcome for a short breeding season. They are lovely Angus heifers from a dairy herd, hopefully bringing some milk with them. by @christineagric

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3 years ago

by @christineagric

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3 years ago