Calves

Similar to 2018, early calf sales have started off with some very high prices being given for dairy x beef calves this week. While early calves are obviously going to attract a premium, be careful around the price you pay. Paying in excess of €300 for calves will leave it very difficult to make a margin.

Some farmers are contemplating a system switch to dairy calf to beef. However, margins need to be looked at closely. While dairy x calves are cheap to get into, they can be expensive to bring to finish and could take between €800 and €1,000 depending on the system. That means if you purchase 20 calves at €150, it’s €3,000.

To get these calves through to finish will take an extra €16,000 to €20,000. It is important you draw up a rough cashflow budget to see where the pressure points will be. Margins are tight and efficiency levels need to be high. Do the sums before purchase and see what you can afford to pay for a calf. In this week’s calf focus on pages 48 and 49 we take a look at what prices can be paid for calves if a €200/head margin is to be achieved.

Don’t think that just because a calf can be purchased for €80 it will leave money. Current calf prices seem high for a beef farmer to make any money. Do some homework on the farmer you are purchasing the calves from and make sure enough colostrum has been fed. If you can buy in batches, buying ones and twos here and there is a recipe for a disease outbreak on your farm.

The dairy beef index was launched this week and take a look at what sires are at the top of the list. Try and find out what the calves are sired by if you can.

Fertiliser

With February just around the corner thoughts are now turning to grass growth and fertiliser application, some farms which are dry in nature should start to plan the purchase of fertiliser and have it ready to go once ground conditions improve and weather gets better.

Soil temperature around the country in the past few weeks have been good and over 6°C in some cases where growth starts to kick off.

A good idea is to split your farm into three sections, Heavy covers of grass, medium covers of grass and low covers of grass. Heavy covers are better to be grazed and then apply a light application of slurry (2,000 gallons/acre). Medium covers are best suited to fertiliser and light covers are again best suited to receive a slurry application. On grazing ground or where there are heavy covers, trailing shoe application will avoid too much grass contamination.

Slurry needs to be watery and thin for these systems to work correctly. We took a look at both systems on Tullamore farm this week and you can watch the video on www.farmersjournal.ie.

In terms of fertiliser type, a half-bag of urea (23 units) is the best rate of application to go out with first. If there are P and K issues, go with a compound on the next application. Avoid spreading if rain is forecast within 48 hours and stick to the driest fields on the farm.