Too often, weanlings are going into a shed and coming out the same weight the following spring “and that’s what we are trying to avoid”.

That was one of the key messages from Teagasc beef specialist Niall Kerins, who was speaking at the suckler information meeting in Mid-Tipp Mart in Thurles on Thursday last.

Thrive

Inferior silage quality that is not properly matched up with concentrate volume was one of the biggest culprits for a lack of thrive at first housing.

A target daily liveweight gain of 0.6kg/head/day was noted by Kerins as being ideal.

Pushing weanlings on past this would lead to below-target weight gain at grass the second summer, commonly known as compensatory growth after the store period of the first winter, with research in Teagasc Grange proving such.

“Pop them on the scales – you will likely be weighing for SCEP or, if you are buying them here in the mart in Thurles, you will know their starting weight. See then, are they doing that 0.6-0.7kg/day?” Kerins said.

Matching silage quality with concentrates

With silage testing one of the actions under the Beef Welfare Scheme on which farmers get paid, Kerins encouraged farmers to get silage tested and balance the diet of the animal according to the results. Table 1 shows the ideal concentrate supplementation required to hit key weight gain targets depending on silage quality, with Kerins pointing out the huge potential savings to be made where quality silage is made in comparison to inferior-quality silage.

Other points of note regarding feeding weanlings centred around keeping silage fresh and having a clean supply of water readily available to cattle.

Refusals from cattle should be cleaned away from the feed face two to three times a week to maximise intakes and prevent spoiling.

Ten to 15l/100kg liveweight was listed as the water requirement, with 300kg weanlings typically drinking 40-45l/day. Keeping water troughs clean was also noted by Kerins as something often overlooked on farms.