Five heifers and eight of the young bulls finally went to the factory two weeks ago. The heifers killed out an average of 343kg carcase weight; they graded one R and four Us. Of the bulls, seven graded U with one E grade. On fat scores, they graded from 2 = to 3 -. The ration they were eating contained 30% maize. Perhaps it should have been increased a little for the last few weeks, especially for the blues.

They had an average carcase weight of 424kg, ranging from 387kg to a high of 461kg for the eldest, who was just 16 months old on the day they went. Incidentally, he was out of a maternal Limousin bull, which helps to dispel the myth that all maternal sires rob you on the bull calf.

The three lightest bulls got on the Quality Payment Scheme (QPS) grid, which made a huge difference pricewise – €4.20 when all bonuses were included versus €3.60, or less, flat. That’s a difference of €228 on a 380kg carcase. It pays to shop around as I found some factories are more draconian with their specs than others.

The imposition of new specifications without warning is nothing short of theft directly from farmers’ pockets. No other industry would tolerate changing the rules without consultation. It’ll be interesting to see how much longer the factories will continue to get away with pulling such stunts.

The high number of cull cows and the poor demand for stock bulls this season, combined with the lack of real CAP reform for young active farmers, might be an indicator that many have had enough. After all, in a situation where you are facing a loss per head, it’s a case of the less heads, the better.

Grass growth is getting going with supply nearly satisfying demand. Soil temperatures are rising; they’re ranging from 10oC to 12oC here at the moment, which is as good as can be expected for this time of year.

The ewe hoggets that are used to graze the wetter areas of lowland for the winter have now been put up to the mountain for the summer, which will also help grass availability. They skin the pasture which, although sometimes slow to recover, leads to a dense sward for the rest of the year. A thick sward on wet ground helps to minimise poaching damage too. This ground should be ready for grazing in early May, weather permitting.

Young stock

All young stock have been out at grass for over a month and are doing a fantastic job cleaning out swards down to as low as 3cm in some cases. They are only doing minimal damage when weather conditions are good but a few paddocks that were grazed during wet spells got a little muddy. Thankfully, there was no serious poaching damage done. These paddocks have now got some phosphorus and potassium, either in the form of 18-6-12 or slurry to give the grass roots a boost to recover quickly.

Re-growths are coming along nicely. The first rotation should be finished in a couple of days. Silage ground will be grazed over the next 10 days. Then it will get slurry, followed by fertilizer a few days later. There are still some stragglers left to calve, remnants of the tough spring last year. They’re inside where they’re easier to keep an eye on; they’ll be going out as they calve. There’s still some silage left in the pit, so there’s no pressure on that front which is in sharp contrast to this time last year.