maremmas

Weaned calves acclimatise to new surroundings with maremma guardians

/ dairymilkmaid / 6 Comments
Weaned calves take in their new surroundings

Weaned calves take in their new surroundings

We’ve weaned a bunch of calves and they love their new surroundings by the forest. When I took this picture, they were still a little overwhelmed, walking quietly around the paddock.

At our farm, calves are weaned relatively late. The calf rearing experts say you can wean a calf as soon as she’s eating at least 1.5kg of grain or pellets per day but, in my view, it doesn’t hurt to offer them milk for a bit longer. Calves are the future of our dairy farm and we don’t skimp on their wellbeing.

We’ve chosen a paddock far from the dairy that offers shelter from cold weather and shade from the sun. Cows are kept off this pasture to minimise the risk of transmitting disease like Bovine Johnes Disease from one generation to another. Aside from buying in bulls to preserve genetic diversity, we have a closed herd and no history of the muscle-wasting BJD but it’s good practice to keep stock under 12 months old off pasture that’s been grazed by mature cows.

While the pic doesn’t show them, maremmas Charlie and Lola have been staying close to their charges and I’m hopeful the transition will extend their range.

Photographic proof that kangaroos compete with livestock

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Oats eaten by kangaroos

Oats eaten by kangaroos

Oats guarded by dogs unaffected by kangaroos

Oats guarded by dogs unaffected by kangaroos


Just in case you were ever in doubt that kangaroos and wallabies compete with livestock, a quick look at one of my paddocks of forage oats is all that’s needed.

These pics are taken at opposite ends of the same paddock. At one end, the paddock shares two fence lines with forest, while at the other, it shares a fence with the maremmas. Who can guess which is which?

This crop was sown before the maremmas were allowed to roam the entire property, so I’m hoping there will be no repeat next year. The two dogs, Charlie and Lola, have been gradually increasing their range since we released them from the calf paddock four months ago but still stay very close to their calves. The next challenge is to encourage them to stray a little more!

By the way, just in case you think I’m stating the obvious, read this report on kangaroos in the SMH.