Grass growth has come right back to 29kg DM/ha/day on average across the country as temperatures drop and days shorten. In truth, winter is in for a sizeable portion of the country’s beef farmers – some or all stock remain housed in many places.

Although more settled weather in recent days has seen some cattle get back to grass, a mixed forecast for the coming week could see them back indoors. One saving grace is that after tomorrow, there are a couple of decent days forecast in much of the west.

If you’ve been forced to house cattle early, use this week’s Focus supplement to carry out a winter fodder budget.

There are articles to describe both the budgeting process (p50-51) and alternatives in the event of a defecit (p52-53).

On drier farms, the fields we came out of last week should see no stock again until the springtime. In a typical year, these farmers would aim to have 60% of their farm closed by 1 November – around 25% at this point. The majority of the grass we have in the spring will grow in October and each extra day we get cattle out in the spring is a saving of almost €3/hd.

If there is less than 25% of your farm closed (grazed out in the current rotation), move to a lighter cover next (7-8cm). Cattle will get through this quicker and keep you on track to hit the 60% target. If ground deteriorates, use temporary wires to allocate 12-hour areas. This will keep cattle moving and happy. However, in this scenario we cannot afford to be late moving on cattle as they will likely become upset and poach ground.

If things get really wet, consider splitting up groups and using strip wires, again to allocate 12-hour blocks.

For me, any forward cattle that we’re looking to slaughter in the calendar year should ideally be indoors now if the sheds are there. No matter how good your grassland management skills are, weight gains will be back – a combination of the changeable weather and changing biology in the grass plant.

Joe Healy

Co Meath

System suckler to beef

Soil type heavy clay

Average farm cover (kg DM/ha) 962

Grass demand (kg DM/ha/day) 41

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 16

Growth rates are well back this week as temperatures start to drop. Thankfully ground conditions have improved well the last few days and grass utilisation remains high. I started my last rotation on the 1 October and I have around 27% of the farm closed at this stage. I have 25 days of grass ahead of me on the farm so if weather conditions allow I hope to keep stock out as long as possible. I slaughtered a few of my bulls last week and I was very happy with how they did. There will be another group ready for slaughter next week. Cows that are suckling calves are being supplemented with high-magnesium licks as well as being offered hay as a precaution against grass tetany. Calves were dosed last week and will be given their booster vaccine against pneumonia this weekend. Scanning will take place in the next week or so to assess how the breeding season went. I have also sent away silage samples from my first and second cuts for analysis.

John Heslin

Derrypatrick Herd

System suckler to beef

Soil type mixed

Average farm cover (kg DM/ha) 800

Grass demand (kg DM/ha/day) 33

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 25

Before the weather broke we purchased Muriate of Potash (0:0:50) for the Derrypatrick farm. Over the last number of weeks, it appeared that ground conditions would not carry machinery for the remainder of 2017 and this potash would remain in storage. However, despite 14mm of rainfall on 27th September, in the subsequent five days ground conditions improved dramatically with only 5mm of rainfall recorded. On October 3rd a total of 64 acres received MOP at a rate of 1 bag/acre with no ground damage inflicted.

Weaning will begin for the Derrypatrick Herd next week. Heifer calves from first-calvers and cull cows will be the first weaned. Bull calves were castrated this week and they will remain with their dams for an extra week to help reduce stress.

Fourteen heifers were drafted for slaughter this week - eight early- (EM) and six late-maturing (LM) animals. The LM heifers killed out similarly (55%) but produced heavier (332kg vs. 310kg) and better conformed (R+ vs. R=) carcases. Average age at slaughter for both groups was 19 months. One EM heifer was over-fat (>4=).

Glen McDermott

Co Sligo

System suckler to weanling

Soil free-draining loam with peat

Avg farm cover (kg DM/ha) n/a

Grass demand (kg DM/ha/day) n/a

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) n/a

Surprisingly, ground has dried out a little and my yearling heifers have returned to grass. If I could keep them out till November it would be great as I have all my weaned cows housed. The plan was to get these out again but with the weather being so bad it never materialised. I’m glad I took out so many surplus bales throughout the summer as I had originally only budgeted for a five-month winter. I’ve closed some of my drier paddocks for spring as I’ll be carrying a higher stocking rate next year, moving away from selling weanlings.

I’ve another batch of bull weanlings to wean and all weanlings were vaccinated for pneumonia last week. There have been no issues with weaning so far.

I spread close to 90 tonne of lime in the spring and if ground is okay in a fortnight I’ll be hitting the poorer paddocks I skipped over earlier in the year. It’ll be interesting to see just how much the pH did change when I test again.

Shane Gleeson

Co Limerick

System suckler to weanling

Soil type variable

Average farm cover (kg DM/ha) n/a

Grass demand (kg DM/ha/day) n/a

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) n/a

Weather is becoming a problem around here. I have 50% of my land dry and that is allowing me to keep stock out at grass but my lower land is in a bad state. I have 25% of my land closed up now and will continue to close for the next four weeks. I am aiming to have grass early in the spring to turn stock out early. I will begin weaning calves soon. This year I will sell my bull calves only and keep my heifers for next year. A major cull is planned for my herd with late-calvers sold if they don’t fit into my planned 10-week calving spread. The remains of my autumn calving herd will be dispersed through this also. I plan to buy in-calf cows or heifers to replace these culls. I will also purchase some extra dairy bred weanlings to bring my total up to 30 for grazing next spring. Silage results came back and I was pleased with the vast majority at 70% DMD. I have one lower sample of 62% DMD and this will be fed to dry cows before calving.