Grass

Average farm cover is back up to 853kg DM/ha, which is probably ahead of where we would like it to be in early August. Attention now turns to building grass covers to take the farm into autumn. Growth was 65kg DM/day over the past seven days with the rain providing a welcome boost to grass growth.

The days ahead figure is currently running at 28 days ahead, which again is above target. We don’t need any silage but with demand running at 30kg DM/ha/day, it will be likely that more silage will come out in round bales before the end of the month. The last of the slurry from the bull beef tanks was applied to some of the paddocks on the home farm, which were low for P and K this week.

Ewes

Another load of lambs went last week, which brings the total number of lambs drafted off grass without meal to 104. Last week’s lambs averaged 42.1kg liveweight at a killout percentage of 47.8% to achieve a carcase weight of 20kg. They were 24 R grades and seven U grades with all coming in at fat score three at an average sale price of €100.11. Ewes were ran through the handling unit on Friday to check teeth, udders, feet and condition ahead of breeding.

Cows and Calves

Bull and heifer calves have now been separated to avoid any unwanted pregnancies. It will also give us the option of commencing creep-feeding of bull calves. Calves have been encouraged to creep-graze ahead of cows and this will become more important for the months of August and September when cows will be made graze a little harder. Creep-feeding commenced in early July last year with drought conditions and is likely to start this year in the next two weeks.