Dairy calf to beef targets: Given the tight margins in beef farming at the moment it is never more important to make sure all animals on the farm are putting on weight. Feeding animals during the winter on silage and meal is expensive so you need to make sure they are performing.

There have been some new ventures down the dairy-beef route and these weanlings need minding over the next few months to make sure they hit target weights. Keeping these animals for long store periods will increase costs and reduce your margin. Dairy beef weanling bulls should be at about 250kg at this stage, with heifers at about 225kg. Aiming for a 100-day winter and a target weight gain of 0.7kg/day over this period, animals should be turning back out at 300-320kg next spring.

Weanlings on the Thrive demonstration farm in Tipperary have come in 37kg heavier than last year, with male calves weighing 266kg at housing and heifer calves weighing 245kg. Maximising the amount of grass in the diet of these animals is vital. Without this, concentrate supplementation will erode the small margin in finishing these animals.

Putting plans in place now for getting these weanlings out next spring is important and unless you have fields closed off at this stage, early turnout won’t be taking place on your farm in 2020. For now, make sure all dosing is up to date for fluke and worms. If there have been pneumonia issues in the past, vaccination should be looked at, ideally before housing, but it is not too late if already housed. These weanlings should be fed the best-quality silage on the farm. Feeding 70DMD + silage will reduce the amount of concentrates required, along with a 14% protein ration with good ingredients like barley, maize distillers or beet pulp. They should be fed 2kg/head/day for the next two months. Aim to reduce meal feeding in late January in advance of turnout in February/March to achieve some compensatory growth. Make sure they have adequate space to lie and feed.

Minerals: Early mineral supplementation of spring-calving suckler cows is important to avoid issues around calving. If feeding powder minerals, make sure all cows have access to feed space. Feeding a half-rate twice a day can help make sure all cows are getting enough. A pre-calving mineral should have 0% calcium, around 4% phosphorus, around 13% sodium and around 17% magnesium. It should have all the major trace elements including Vitamin E. Dry cow minerals should be fed for six to eight weeks before calving so late January-calving cows should be supplemented from now. Don’t forget to supplement autumn-calving cows also.

BEAM Scheme compliance: We go into some detail on the beef pages this week on reducing stock numbers before 30 June 2021 to make sure you reduce bovine organic production on your farm by 5%. Take action early. Leaving it until spring 2021 will mean bigger stock reductions.