Hedgehogs are one of our most loved native mammals. They are especially loved by gardeners thanks to their habit of eating slugs. Sadly, due to loss of habitat, increased road traffic & use of insecticides, their numbers have dropped by 30% in the last decade. Taking care of hedgehogs has never been so important. Here are our top tips for looking after hedgehogs and creating a hedgehog friendly garden.

How to make your garden hedgehog friendly

• Hedgehogs need space to roam, they can cover up to 19km every night! To help them out you can cut holes at ground level in fences or dig channels under dense hedges so they can get through easily. The holes should be about 13cm in width & height
• Refrain from using pesticides if possible. Pesticides such as slug pellets can poison hedgehogs if they eat affected slugs. Less slugs also means less food for hedgehogs
• Don’t be too tidy. Leave some tall perennials & piles of leaves standing over winter or leave an area of grass unmown to create homes for insects. Mulch beds with compost to encourage earthworms and build woodpiles to attract woodlice. Hedgehogs love to eat bugs & worms!
• If you have a pond in your garden, make sure hedgehogs and other wildlife can get out of it. Make a shallow beach at one end or use a plank of wood wrapped in chicken wire as a non- slip ramp
• Always check for hedgehog nests before forking over compost heaps or strimming long grass.

Feeding Hedgehogs in your garden

Hedgehogs always benefit from being given extra food. They love meat flavoured cat food both wet & dry but should also be provided with a shallow dish of fresh water. Ceramic bowls are less likely to be knocked over so are a great choice. You can make your own hedgehog feeding station easily using a large plastic storage container. A brick should be placed on the lid, this prevents cats & foxes eating the food. Carefully cut a hole out of the container around 4.5’’ square, cover edges with tape to prevent sharp edge and place food & water bowls in the very back.

What to do if you find a hedgehog

If you see a hedgehog out in the daytime, it could be injured or sick. With the exception of pregnant females who venture out during the day to gather nesting materials or in search of extra food. These hedgehogs will be very active and should be left alone whereas a sick animal may be staggering or not moving at all. Please phone us if you find a sick hedgehog or are concerned about an animal, for more advice on 023 88 41404 / 021 4772277

 

Early  pregnancy test results give you more detailed information for your herd reproduction reports, so you can accurately assess your herd’s reproduction performance.  Herd reproduction reports need a high percentage of cows to have an early aged results. To get early aged pregnancy test results, cows must be scanned between 35 and 122 days of pregnancy (5 to 17 weeks).

 

Depending on your mating length, you may need to do more than one round of pregnancy testing to get early aged results for your whole herd.

 

1st scan (12 to 14 weeks after mating start date)  to ensure that cows that got pregnant in the first 6 weeks of mating will have early aged results.

2nd scan (at least 42 days after the end of mating) to age cows that got pregnant in the later part of mating.

We visited some farms in the last number of years to examine calves that were near weaning or weaned but were scouring and losing weight. These calves were suffering from ‘’Summer Scour syndrome’’ or ‘’calf to grass syndrome’’. These calves had to be taken off grass and put back on milk and a fibre source.

Summer scour in calves is a relatively new phenomenon, where calves start to scour profusely, become dehydrated and lose weight rapidly a few weeks after turnout to grass. Calves are selective grazers which means they only eat the tip of the grass plant, this tip is full of
sugar and nitrogen while being low in fibre.

It is more commonly seen in calves turned out to have excellent quality nitrogen (N)-rich grass. It is believed that an excessive intake of N (calves tend to browse from the top of the leaf, where non-protein N is concentrated) leads to ammonia toxicity and the resulting scouring and wasting in the calves. Those fed on older, more fibrous grass rarely suffer from the condition.

• NOW is the time to prevent this from happening this year, feeding a product like Rumenito or Equaliser 365 pellet with your calf ration daily, can aid in the prevention of summer scour syndrome.
• Feeding a source of fibre at grass can also help in preventing acidosis and summer scour syndrome.
• This can also be complicated by Coccidiosis which can be easily diagnosed by taking a Faecal sample.