It's been a busy season on Tullamore Farm and there’s no sign of it slowing down just yet.

Grass growth has exploded in the last two weeks and has led to a number of paddocks been removed as surplus bales; there has been 15 acres cut, yielding over 70 bales.

The farm currently has growth of 70 kg DM/ha/day, which has surpassed demand of 51 kg DM/ha/day.

The farm is in a strong position for grass but there is some difficulty in managing grass quality, with manager Shaun Diver cautious not to remove too many paddocks, leaving the farm tight on supply.

As a result, a number of heavier covers of 1,700 kg DM/ha were grazed, and Shaun is following behind, topping off the residual to slow up rotation length.

Ideally, some of the heavier covers should have been removed as surplus 10 days ago. However, as weather conditions didn't allow, Shaun is trying to balance grazing quality.

The farm has an overall cover of 708 kg /DM/ha with a cover per LU of 195 kg/DM/LU.

Breeding

Breeding has now slowed down and all cows are now served.

Over the coming week, the first scan will take place to pick up the earlier cows that were served first. Any remaining problem cows can be treated and served then.

Calves have been motoring well on-farm, with all dosing and vaccination up to date.

They got a mineral dose as the farm has a history of copper deficiency; this has kept them thriving and put a shine on their coats.

The 20 beef bulls have been slaughtered – they averaged 383kg of a carcase weight and graded on average U-.

The 20 bulls averaged €2,462, at a price of €6.52/kg. The best performing bull had a carcase weight of 433kg at 15 months old and made €2,860.

The bulls ranged from 312kg carcase, up to 433kg.

Currently on the sheep front, the lambs have not yet received a worm dose.

The first two-faecal egg counts showed very low levels of eggs present. However, over the next week, the lambs will be tested again as the recent warm and damp weather created perfect conditions for eggs to begin hatching.

Meanwhile, lambs are thriving well and the first draft is expected over the coming two to three weeks. Lambs will also get their second clostridial vaccination.

Apart from surplus silage baled last week, the first cut is due to be cut this weekend.

Shaun has decided to bulk up the first cut with all the high-quality silage still left over from 2025 and it is well fit to cut now over the coming days.

It was closed up later than previous years, but nitrogen should now be all used up by the crop.