We finished sowing spring barley the last days of April. While this was a little later than we had planned, we weren’t overly worried. Unfortunately the good spell of weather and minimal rainfall over the last month or so means that spring crops are looking worse for wear. The fields that look the best are three fields along the road that have been in grass for a long time. They obviously have a lot higher organic matter percentage than fields that are continuously cropped and are holding the moisture better – a stark reminder of the importance of livestock and dung in the farming mix.

This is something we are now actively working on here at Arnage – making the most of farmyard manure. One benefit of long winters is that we accumulate a lot of dung each year. Targeting the application of this to areas of the farm where it is most needed should help build soil fertility and organic matter levels where needed.

Grass

After a slow, cold spring with little early growth we had cows and calves turned out on 25 April. We supplemented silage to the cows for the first two weeks at grass as growth was so slow. In this way, grass was able to build up in front of stock.

The recent dry spell has really affected grass growth especially over the last two weeks. We have simply had next to no rain here at all for over a month.

What did fall last week was hardly enough to keep the dust down and the following few days were really windy and good drying days.

Silage

First-cut silage was harvested on 8 June. Crops were better than expected yielding 7t/acre fresh weight or 5.5tDM/ha. This gives us over 350t fresh weight in the yard, meaning we need a decent second cut and perhaps a small third if possible. Fertiliser went out last weekend for the second cut. We were delaying this for some rain to wash it in, however all that fell will have hardly done so.

Sheep

Where the sheep are grazing in rotation grass is still growing where there is a decent cover of grass already there, but where they have grazed regrowth has been slow.

It has been difficult to keep grass quality as good as liked ahead of the ewes and lambs over the last couple of weeks as grass seems to be going to seed head. They are going into slightly strong covers at the moment but with regrowth poor, we can’t afford to take out any surplus grazing. We will make them graze it out as good as possible to ensure quality is better in the next rotation.

Overall the lambs are looking really well. Lambs definitely thrive better when they have the sun on their backs. The new grass and rotational grazing has also made a big difference though compared to last year when they were set stocked. Ewes have been milking well and the lower worm burden with clean grass is an added benefit to the lambs.

While the weather up until the Highland Show was decent last year, our lambs are a fortnight younger this year and yet are much further on than last year. We expect to have a first draw of lambs by the end of next week. Last year our first draw was well in to August.

The priority now is to get as many lambs away as soon as we possibly can. We want to have all sold by the end of September. Last year they hung around too long eating grass that was needed for other stock on farm. Weaning will take place the second week of July and the lambs will be given access to the best grazing on the farm.

Improving grass quality

Seeing how well the lambs are doing on new grass and rotational grazing, it’s easy to realise that this is where we need to get to with the cattle as well. The new grass is out-performing and out-growing the older swards. However, this takes time as we try and reseed as much as we can each year, it needs to be done in a structured manner.

An option we are looking at is using a field behind one of the cow sheds for out-wintering. It needs to be reseeded next spring anyway so if we can keep some cows out on it we can reduce our bedding bill.

If the weather is suitable we will look to establish a hybrid brassica crop to grow some cheap dry matter for winter feed. This would then be reseeded in spring for cattle grazing. In saying all that, we first need some moisture before we can even consider it.

Where we will definitely look to grow a forage crop is a field that is currently in winter barley. Once it is harvested, we will direct drill a hybrid brassica crop into the stubble. This will provide winter fodder for all the ewes, allowing the grass fields a rest during the winter. Spring grass is at a premium here and usually turnout of the cattle is delayed as the ewes have eaten every kg of grass during the winter months.

Breeding

As we continue to tighten the calving period on farm we will reduce the breeding period to 13 weeks this year. Breeding has started on farm and there are just three cows left to calve. By the looks of them they are not far away and we should be all finished by the end of the month. That should give them a chance to go back in calf in the remaining time with the bulls.

This year we have introduced a Stabiliser bull to the herd. The idea behind this is to reduce overall cow size. Our cows are Sim/Lim crosses and we feel some of them are a bit large.

The key objective of beef farming is to convert cheaply grown dry matter into beef. Maintenance is 2% of body weight – meaning bigger cows need to eat more just to maintain themselves regardless of what they are producing.

We needed another bull as one of the stock bulls is coming towards the end of his time. The Stabiliser is only a young bull so will only serve a small number of cows this year.

All going to plan he will produce decent replacement heifers for the herd. It will be interesting to see how the offspring perform next year.