Lambing 2020

Lambing started on 13 March with the arrival of a set of triplets. It’s been going steady since, with 42 ewes lambed in the last seven days.

There are no major problems to report so far, with ewes all lambing well so far. Twenty ewes and 38 lambs have been turned out to paddocks around the shed.

To avoid any tetany issues, they are getting 0.5kg of a ewe ration daily. It also acts as a good indicator that everything is ok when they are coming to the trough.

Busy week ahead

Farm manager Shaun Diver is expecting another very busy week next week and has drafted in some help at night for about seven to 10 days.

This person will have all moving and feeding completed when Shaun starts in the morning, so this will take some of the pressure off.

Night duty last year cost the farm €1,000, but was money well spent when you count in extra lambs saved and also extra help during the very busy weeks.

This year, the farm is participating again in the Sheep Ireland project. This involves recording a huge amount of data in the lambing shed. Things like lamb birth weight, mothering ability, lamb vigour and milk ability are all recorded. Sires have already been recorded and lambs will be tagged at birth.

2019 bull performance

Bulls have moved up to ad-lib and seem to be very content. Silage feeding has been reduced to the bare minimum and some straw is also being fed to keep the digestive system right.

The current ration consists of ground maize 35%, flaked barley 34.5%, beet pulp nuts 15%, soya bean 7.5%, molasses 5.% and rumen boost beef mineral 3%. The ration is costing €255/t delivered to the yard.

Table 2 outlines the weight performance of the bulls since the first weighing in July 2019. Performance was high right through their lifetime to date.

It’s important that under-16-month bulls don’t get any setbacks and are kept going to maximise weight gain.

All calves on the farm were weighed on 15 July 2019 and weighed 221kg, gaining 1.38kg/day since birth.

The next weighing took place on 2 October in advance of weaning. Bull weanlings weighed 341kg, having gained 1.51kg/day from 15 July to 2 October.

Weanlings were weighed again on 17 January and they weighed 477kg and gained 1.27kg/day over the winter months between 2 October and 17 January 2020.

The 2018 bulls were weighed on the same day in 2018 and the 2019 bulls came in 45kg heavier at the same age.

The last weighing took place on 3 March. Bulls weighed 542kg gaining 65kg or 1.41kg/day in the 46 days since 17 January.

The average daily gain since birth of the group is 1.38kg/day. The heaviest bull in the group was a February-born QCD bull weighing 650kg gaining 1.57kg/day since birth.

The factory the farm is dealing with applies weight penalties once bulls go over 400kg deadweight, so the plan is to put bulls to 700kg and then slaughter them.

If the bull’s performance continues, it will mean a number will be slaughtered at 14 months.

Calving 2020

Calving is on the wind-down. Eighteen cows are left to calve. Calving went well. Two calves have been lost so far; one of these was an abortion at the start.

We had one set of twins so that brought us back up and we purchased a calf for one of the cows that lost a calf.

We also lost a heifer that put out her calf bed after calving, which was disappointing, but we had to deal with it.

There are now no idle cows going out to grass. There have been no health issues in calves.

The biggest issue was with mastitis in cows, with six cases in calved cows. This was put down to lying on slats after calving.

Some more changes will have to be made to accommodation for calved cows before calving 2021. There are currently 50 cows and calves out at grass coping fine. There are also 21 yearling heifers out at grass.

COVID-19

COVID-19 is being taken very seriously on Tullamore Farm. The farm is in lockdown, with no visitors coming on to the farm at the moment.

All farm staff are washing hands regularly and sanitising as much as possible. Farm staff are not entering any business premises such as vets or hardware stores. No contact is being made with any farm delivery people.

The health of farm staff, like every other farm in the country, is central to a successful lambing and calving season and Tullamore Farm has a duty of care to staff and their families.