After the busy and difficult spring, there is no rest for farm manager Shaun Diver on Tullamore Farm, as breeding is in full swing, crops are sown, reseeding is being done and with silage just around the corner.

This week, we caught up with Shaun to get an update on how the farm is managing after a poor spring, but a big jump in grass growth over the last 10 days.

Breeding season is in full swing on Tullamore Farm, which began 21 days ago when 39 heifers were served on a fixed time AI programme.

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Breeding on the cows has now entered its second week, with cows being served twice daily, as Shaun is using both sexed and conventional semen, serving twice daily to try to maximise conception rates.

All cows have heat detection collars on them, so it takes the workload out of checking cows a number of times daily.

Unfortunately, the heifers do not have collars on and that's why a fixed time AI programme was used to minimise workload.

The heifers are currently being observed close to the yard in case of any repeats, as they are 21 days since their AI.

Currently, only one heifer out of 39 has repeated, but they are not out of the safe zone yet for another few days.

Shaun has the heifers tail painted and a teaser bull is running with them.

Beef bulls

The 20 beef bulls that are remaining on farm are now on an ad-lib mix consisting of maize silage, concentrates and straw.

They are now housed on a slatted area, with access to a straw lie-back.

The bulls will remain on this diet for another two to three weeks, with bulls intended to be drafted for slaughter from the end of May onwards.

Grass update

The farm is in good position for grass, with a farm cover of 987kg DM/ha.

Demand has jumped the last two weeks, as the 39 heifers on the AI programme were housed, but these have now been turned out to grass, lifting demand to 47kg DM/ha.

This will not affect the grass situation, as growth has jumped to 60kg DM/ha.

There is currently 21 days grass ahead of cows and if growth remains strong, Shaun will begin removing surplus paddocks over the coming week to 10 days.

There is currently 60 acres closed for first-cut silage, with a target cutting day of the end May.

Silage crops are looking good despite the poor spring and late fertiliser application.

Shaun has made the decision to take a bulkier cut of silage in 2026, as there is most of the 2025 pit remaining that has tested good at 73 DMD.

2026 crops

The crops for 2026 are now sown with 13 acres of spring barley sown alongside 5ac of whole crop.

The whole crop mix sown is a 50% mix of peas, with the remainder consisting of barley and oats.

The forage rye was harvested and put into the pit. The field has now been reseeded back into grass.