Richard Jennings

Co Mayo

There were 32 acres of silage harvested last week. As the weather was extremely changeable, silage was mowed and ensiled straight away.

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I would have liked to get it wilted but there was no opportunity. Grass was ensiled dry so there is relatively little effluent. Yields are excellent as grass bulked up well. There would be over 10t/ac harvested.

This year’s yields and having silage left over from last year means that I will not need to close up for second-cut. Instead, I will concentrate on making round bales when there is surplus grass.

This will improve silage quality, as well as grazing quality, for weanlings and lambs. I am going to make some haylage for winter sheep also, as it is a very useful feed for ewes.

I stopped inseminating cows on 6 May and noticed a couple of repeats in late-calving cows. They will not be served again and have been marked for culling. It depends on the market, but I will probably sell the cows live rather than fatten them.

I have been monitoring cows all spring as I inseminate them and there is at least 80% of the cows in calf. They will be scanned in early August to confirm calving dates but I am expecting few surprises.

The November-born calves are being prepared for weaning and will graze silage aftermath once it joins the rotation next week. Meal will be introduced shortly at a rate of 2kg/day to prepare weanlings for sale in August targeting the export market.

I am targeting an average of 400kg liveweight for all bulls. All weanlings will be sold by October. Heifers will also get 2kg/day but this will be reduced if they are getting fat.

Calves were drenched with a white wormer last month and will get a second drench before sale. The later-born calves will be weaned by creep grazing ahead of cows from next month onwards.