Beef management notes

Tullamore Farm

Where cattle have been turned out, regrowths are extremely slow and farm covers are dropping fast. Average farm cover is 412kg/DM/ha this week on Tullamore Farm and very little growth occurred over the past seven days. Meal has been reintroduced to the 59 dairy cross heifers at the rate of 3kg/head per day to try to slow them up from going through grass too fast.

Cows and calves at grass will also be fed 3kg/meal per head per day over the next seven days to slow down the rotation. A total of 120 acres got 35 units of urea /acre on 17 February and the remainder of the farm will be spread as soon as conditions allow.

As some of the silage fields were grazed with sheep up until 21 December, 25 acres will be spread with slurry this week and will get 90 units of nitrogen/acre for silage seven days later. This should give us a good-quality early cut of silage for housed ewes next winter.

The remainder of the silage ground will be closed up in early April. The first round of grazing won’t finish until the third week of April.

Calving is progressing well with 59 cows calved and 56 live calves on the ground. Two heifers with still births have taken well to calves and have been turned out.

Calved cows feeding

Cows that recalved and are being fed indoors on silage should be monitored closely for body condition loss. Too much condition loss will have a negative effect on the 2018 breeding season and will delay the cows’ resumption to cycling.

If cows are eating medium-quality silage, they should be fed 2kg to 3kg of a 16% protein ration to ensure they have adequate milk supply and don’t lose excessive condition. If cows are being turned outdoors, take precautions against tetany via bolus, feeding cal mag or high-magnesium licks.

Fertiliser

Due to weather conditions, fertiliser has been slow to move out of merchants’ yards around the country. This could have an effect on grass supply in April if nitrogen is not spread.

On a moderately stocked beef farm at 140kg organic N/ha, the recommendation is to have 27 units N/acre spread in March to meet grass demand with another 20 units/acre spread in April.

Urea offers the best value in N fertiliser at the moment but needs damp cold conditions for it to work at maximum efficiency. At current prices, the cost per kg/N (March 2018) is:

Target the most efficient land with the first application of fertiliser, ie recently reseeded swards, high ryegrass swards, fields that are high in pH, phosphorus and potassium. If you need to build soil fertility aim to spread a compound fertiliser in the second round to help build indexes. As soon as ground conditions allow, fertiliser should be one of the first jobs on the list.