As March approaches, it seems that many farms across the country are continuing to experience wintry spells, with heavy rainfall and snow again this week.
Tullamore Farm ground conditions continue to deteriorate following last week’s storm, leading to further delays in turnout.
Farm manager Shaun Diver said: “With another week of heavy rain, we are beginning to struggle with housing space in the sheds with more calves being born on the farm.
"We dehorned some of the stronger calves this week with the hope to let 10 to 12 calves out to fresh grazed paddocks if weather conditions improve’.’
The grass cover this week on the farm is 648kg DM/ha, which is an increase of 21kg DM/ha from the previous grass cover taken.
Shaun comments: "It’s great to see that grass is continuing to grow on the farm even with the recent weather conditions. There has been a significant increase in average growth per day from 8kg/day to 15kg/day this week."
There has been a steady flow of calves being born over the past month. A total of eight cows had calves on the farm this week, bringing the total number up to 40.
Sheep
In the sheds, the twin-bearing mature ewes are currently being fed ration at a rate of 700g/day, while triplet-carrying ewes are on 800g/day. Singles continue with no concentrates and are being fed good-quality silage with a DMD of 75%.
Ewe were injected this week with an annual booster of pre-lambing clostridial vaccine, which is given to the ewe four weeks prior to lambing to cover clostridial diseases.
Shaun says: "It’s important that we give this vaccine to our ewes prior to lambing, as lambs will get a passive immunity from the ewe’s colostrum."
A few ewes were also treated with scald this week and were foot-bathed and separated to provide correct treatment.
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