Ken Gill produces organic beef from 70 suckler cows and bought-in stock on 95ha of free-draining land (laid out in one block) in Clonbollogue, Co Offaly.

He partially wintered 69 autumn 2017-born weanlings outdoors this year. Ken grew 25 acres of organic oats for Flahavans and this area was undersown with grass seed (at a rate of 3-4kg/acre), which cattle worked through in December and January by day, returning to their dams in the evening. The calves average DOB was 25 August 17 and they were weighed and completely weaned on 9 February 18, at 5.5 months and 195kg. Red clover silage.

They subsequently went to grass on 16 February, were brought back in on 27 February and turned back out on 10 March.

Red clover

Ken farms an exceptionally dry block of ground and when we visited last week the calve were in paddocks on the grazing platform, doing minimal damage. Given that growth has been slow and that these animals still have a lot of growing to do, Ken is supplementing the calves with bales of red clover silage.

Ken Gill loading a new bale of red clover silage.

"They're taking just under two days to eat the full bale and they're beginning to graze out paddocks well. I have put in more paddocks this winter – there are 33 permanent splits on the farm now, where before [the BETTER Farm programme] there were just 18. The paddocks will help me get the best grass into cattle and we'll hopefully see higher daily gains as a result," Ken told me.

Spring manure

Driving early growth in spring is not just a case of buying in synthetic nitrogen, as it would be on a conventional holding. Ken's main sources of nutrients are farmyard manure, slurry and imported organic chicken litter. He has already gotten chicken litter out on his tillage ground, infused with his own farmyard manure. Some of Ken's autumn 2017-born calves.He is holding off on his slurry until conditions are more susceptible to growth, so as to get the best kick possible from it on his grass silage ground. He will spread at a rate of 2,000 gallons per acre then.

Bulk silage

"I still have to graze out my silage ground, so realistically it will be mid-June before I am cutting it. I don't mind going for bulk on my main crops. It will form the basis of my cows' diet. Also we should be able to take lots of surplus bales now with the extra paddocks and I always have a lot of feed options here. We are doing a pea-wheat combi crop again and a multi-cut red clover crop. We got four cuts from that and I am aiming for more in future. In organics it's not just a case of buying in extra bales in a fodder shortage, I have to get special allowances to do so and organic forage isn't easy to find, or cheap. So you need to make a lot of winter feed.

Read more

Introducing Ken Gill - BETTER's first organic farmer

Fodder situation gets serious

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