We have had a fantastic autumn weather-wise on this farm and it has really helped to take the pressure off the day-to-day management of the herd.

Grass growth was good during September and early October and has set the farm up to extend grazing until the end of this month.

While it would be very easy to leave all the cows outside for another fortnight, I have to think about things further down the line.

Therefore, I am planning to wean the bull calves this weekend and house them. I will house their mothers at the same time.

There is plenty of grass on farm and cows could stay outside, but I feel I would be better off to house them at weaning.

Housing now will leave more grass for the cows with heifer calves and allow them to graze into next month if the weather permits.

The reason for weaning the bulls this weekend is they are destined to be killed next May as young bulls. Therefore, it is time to get them started on the winter feeding programme.

There are 33 bull calves and they have been on 3kg/day of a growing ration through the creep feeder and good-quality grass.

Performance has been pleasing and I reckon calves would be heavier than their target housing weight of 300kg.

The feed value of grass is in decline now as dry matter falls, so housing the bulls and increasing meal levels along with silage will improve performance. This will also keep animals on track to kill from next May onwards.

Weaning

To wean the calves, they will simply be brought into the yard and separated from the cows. They will then be clipped along the back and wormed with a pour-on and housed.

Both cows and calves will be weighed at weaning to calculate a weaning percentage for the herd. I find this interesting to compare cow performance over the year and also to compare with last year.

Once housed, they will be offered high-quality silage along with 4kg/day of the growing ration and built up to higher levels as winter progresses.

The calves have received two shots of Bovipast and been vaccinated for IBR well in advance of weaning. They were also wormed in early September, so calves should be at less risk for respiratory problems when housed.

Although calves are coming straight off the cow and into the shed, the cows have more or less dried off at this stage of the year.

Weaning now will ensure these cows are housed in good body condition, allowing me to save on silage.

If calves were to stay on the cows for another few weeks, the cows would most likely start to lose flesh that has to regained once housed.

Heifer calves

The plan for the heifer calves is to hold them at grass until the end of the month. Any grazing after this will be a bonus.

The heifers are not getting any creep feed at grass. However, once housed they will be offered meal to supplement the feed quality of first-cut silage.

Once the bull calves are housed, the heifer calves will be spread out over a bigger grazing area to ease the pressure on ground conditions as we move into late autumn time.

Heifers will be weaned in a similar manner to the bull calves, with clipping and dosing just prior to housing. Cows and calves will also be weighed at weaning.

Scanning results point to a successful breeding season

The spring-calving cows were scanned on 17 September. I put 116 cows and heifers to the bull this summer and scanning shows 105 are in-calf.

There were 24 replacement heifers selected for breeding and 22 are in-calf to an Angus bull. This leaves 92 cows bred to two Simmental bulls and one Limousin bull.

Stock bulls went out with cows on 12 May, which was two weeks later than last year to move calving a little closer to the typical spring turnout date.

Based on scanning results, the first calf is due around 20 February and indications are for a tight calving period next spring.

Culling cows

There were four cows scanned empty that were suckling bull calves this year. I decided to wean these cows last week, as they were in great condition.

They were sent for slaughter on Wednesday of this week and should kill out well. The remaining empty cows will be weaned this weekend and killed in a few weeks.

Again, body condition is relatively good, so it will not take much to fatten these cows. There are a couple of other cows to pull out for culling due to the usual problems with udders.

Herd target

As it stands, I am on track to meet my target of calving down 100 cows next spring. This will be the biggest number to calve yet for the spring herd.

Numbers have been boosted with some of the autumn cows being held back to join the spring herd and I think this is the best direction for the herd.

Autumn bulls

There are 13 autumn 2017-born bulls being fed for slaughter from November onwards. This is the last year I will have these animals to finish on farm. They are being fed ad-lib meal and silage, and averaged 1.5kg/day since housed for finishing in the summer.

Silage stocks limited

I managed to make three cuts of silage, but due to a light yield in the second cut, my estimates are that silage reserves are tight, but they should be adequate to last until April. With limited silage, the dry autumn has been a blessing in keeping cows at grass. This time last year, cows were housed for approximately six weeks and had consumed a lot of silage, as they were suckling calves indoors.

Once weaned, dry cows will be fed third-cut silage and moved on to second-cut silage from Christmas onwards. Once calved, they will get first-cut silage. Second-cut silage is average in quality, but very dry at 39% dry matter. This should help to keep bedding clean and last longer, especially in calving pens.

First-cut silage is excellent at 71 D-value and ideal to feed to freshly calved cows until they can be turned out to grass.

Cows are currently in ideal body condition, so there will be a saving made from restricting silage to purely meet nutritional demand.

Reseeding

I reseeded 16 acres of grassland in the spring and it has performed exceptionally well this summer. The new grass comfortably grazed 24 store heifers, 12 of which are homebred animals and the other 12 being bought-in animals. These animals will be housed inside the next week and finished early next year.