Beef

  • Beef stock going to grass in the next two to four weeks can begin to have any supplementary concentrates pulled back from now. Meal levels should have been modest where cattle are returning to grass and not going for slaughter until later in the year (<2.5kg), that is unless silage quality was excessively poor. Ideally, cattle will be on a silage-only diet 10 to 14 days prior to turnout. Reduce meal feeding gradually each day to achieve this. It’s fine to feed once a day for convenience at levels below 3.5kg/head.
  • Ensure that suckler cows are getting plenty of pre-calver mineral (100g to 140g/day). This is vital for ensuring easy calving, vigorous calves and no subsequent cow health issues. Ask yourself are all cows getting the mineral? Or is it a restricted feed space situation? Consider hanging mineral blocks, looking at water-borne options or introducing buckets. If you’re restricting cows using straw, colostrum quality might take a hit. Investing in 400g to 500g of soya bean meal will help to alleviate this.

    • Dairy

  • There seems to be quite a high prevalence of milk fever around the country at present. This is likely due to high levels of potassium in silage – the target is a maximum of 1.8% and, in reality, Irish grass silage is closer to 2.5%. Potassium ties up magnesium – a critical ingredient in calcium metabolism – and slows calcium absorption. Those with high potassium in silage or experiencing high milk fever rates should immediately introduce 100g to 150g per head of magnesium sulphate or magnesium chloride salt per head on top of silage or consider introducing straw into the diet (provided enough energy is present).

    • Sheep

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  • Between weeks six and one pre-lambing, a ewe’s energy requirement jumps by almost 60%. All the while her capacity for intake drops as the growing lamb reduces her internal gut space. Even on good-quality 72% DMD silage, a twin-bearing ewe will be in an energy deficit from five weeks pre-lambing. Such a ewe with this type of silage should be getting 300g of meals with her silage from five weeks pre-lambing, increasing to 500g from four weeks out and 700g in the final fortnight. A 5% drop in silage DMD requires an extra 100g of meals.