Spring 2013 born calves are doing very well. Some of them have been weaned with more to be weaned in the coming weeks. In total, I have about 140 calves bought in so far and I have lost one. They cost slightly under €120 each. Last year, I bought in 208 calves at an average cost of €215 each, so I am happy with the cost and quality of this year’s calves. They are being reared on an automatic feeder and this year they are on a programme where they will get just one bag of milk replacer until weaning.

Last year’s batch of calves got just under two bags of milk powder to weaning. By using three-quarters of a bag less this year and feeding more meal at a younger age, I think the calves are doing equally as good if not better than last year.

This year’s calves have been very lucky for me health-wise also, so that is probably contributing a lot to good liveweight gains.

Last year’s calves were housed below target weight due to the poor daily gain they achieved over the summer last year. One hundred and two were weighed in mid-January and averaged 280kg liveweight, some 40kg behind target. I bought a Zero Grazer and I am currently cutting grass and feeding it to these bulls along with concentrates to maximise their daily gain, while keeping costs low. Grass is short in supply but its growth has increased in the last two weeks. Eighty of the 2012-born bulls are currently housed and are getting ad-lib grass and straw. They will be increased onto 2kg of a simple mix of soya hulls and maize meal (65% maize meals and 35% soya hulls). In the coming weeks, they will be increased onto 3kg to 4kg.

I am estimating that the bulls are currently weighing 400kg liveweight so almost half of the diet consists of meal. The soya hulls is adding additional fibre to the diet while the maize is high in energy and helping to keep the liveweight gain at 1kg to 1.1kg/day. The best of the bulls will be killed under 16 months in mid to late-May. The lighter bulls may have to be slaughtered out of spec as they were too light when housed last year.

This year, I am aiming to focus more on grassland management and intend on maximising the daily gain from grass for the spring 2013 born bulls. The Zero Grazer will also be used to feed grass to the young bulls on the out-wintering pad.