Weather has been notably cooler around Tullamore this week, with a distinct autumn feel to the weather.

Grass growth has held well, with a recorded growth of 52kg DM/ha. Demand has dropped to 38kg DM ha/day.

Any paddocks being grazed will be closed and won’t be grazed again. These paddocks are dry and sheltered and will be earmarked for cows and calves next spring.

Some watery slurry was spread on paddocks this week in advance of the closing date and while ground conditions still allowed machinery to travel.

Weaning has started on the farm. Weaning started in cull cows two weeks ago. The system being used is the same as last year.

At the beginning of the week, on Monday, farm manager Shaun Diver will take out five or six cows out of a group of cows and calves. The same thing will happen on Thursdays.

This way, cows are left with calves and the stress around weaning is decreased as much as possible.

Calves have all been vaccinated in August in advance of weaning and weanling bulls and heifers are also forward creep grazing.

Bull calves are being offered 2kg/head/day of concentrates, while heifer calves are eating 1kg/head/day.

This is being offered in troughs in adjacent paddocks. Licks are out with cows as a prevention measure against tetany.

Cull cows for slaughter

The first of the cull cows have been selected for slaughter. These cows were weaned two weeks ago and slaughtered directly off grass without any meal.

A further draft of cows will be killed out of the cull group before Christmas.

Heifers were also sorted into three groups this week - in-calf heifers for the sale in Roscrea on 21 October; in-calf heifers being kept for Tullamore Farm; and maiden heifers which didn’t go to bull or turned out not in-calf.

We are currently weighing up what do to with this last group of heifers.

Average weight of this group is 502kg and a decision will be made next week on whether to sell live or finish.

Some of these heifers are muscly types which weren’t suitable for breeding and may make more to sell live rather than finish.

Sheep

Next week, all ewes will get a mineral dose. Mating is planned to start on 21 October.

Ewes have been grazing off bare paddocks and following a group of heifers. They will also be dipped next week and flushing will start on good grass.

Two extra rams have been purchased this year - a Charollais for ewe lambs and a Texel for the main group of ewes. Forty-four mule ewe lambs were also purchased, which will bring ewe numbers lambing down in 2021 to 250.