We are proceeding with caution into the second grazing rotation with the cows this week. We still have plenty of forage on hand to slow down cows if necessary. We started the first rotation in January and had a lot of ground grazed in February, so we have good grass back on those paddocks now, with the first few paddocks heading for 1,500kg DM/ha already.

We will push cows hard and try to get the residuals right down this round as it was a bit hit and miss on some paddocks through the first round. Cows are milking well at 2.1kg of solids on 4kg of concentrate meal and we will reduce back to 2kg of concentrate meal as soon as we see growth match demand. Anything up around 40kg DM/ha of growth should see us free-wheeling.

We are down to the last dozen cows to calve this week and we should have just a handful by next week with a bit of luck. The last few to calve caused very little trouble so hopefully the rest will continue in the same vein. They are calving to the Friesian stock bull and producing some nice heifer calves still so we will probably rear all these girls and push them on a bit to reach target weight at 22 months.

The plan next year is to minimise the number of Friesian calves born after 1 March. We bought some Angus bulls at the Kilkenny bull sale last week and these will tidy up the heifers after a round with the Friesian bulls. We also have an Aubrac bull kept over from last year and will pick up a Hereford or two before 1 June to use on the last of the cows.

We might also continue to AI the last of the cows a bit longer, with beef AI alongside the bulls.

Waste calves are not an option any more and, while it has never been an issue with the herd here, we can all improve the situation a bit and work a bit harder on producing a good beef calf alongside the dairy heifer. Our industry needs to continue to work hard on improving our animal welfare image.

If we can use a bit of sexed semen on the better cows and beef AI on the lower end through the early rounds of AI, we should end up with better Friesian heifers to rear and a better beef calf for our customers. Looking at the factory returns from some of the calves that left here two years ago, even good Friesians are struggling on the grid recently, with a lot of O grade cattle.

The same genetics were producing some Rs a few years ago but the grading definitely hasn’t got any easier in the last few years. The margins are tightening in that sector all the time and there are much bigger issues than the quality of calf that we produce. That said, we can only control what we can control.

Stock bulls

The last group of maiden heifers went out to grass last week and the young stock bulls that will go with them are out settling into a grass diet this week as well. We will work one bull to 25 heifers for the first three weeks and drop to one bull per 50 after that. The cows will get six weeks of AI so we will keep one bull to 75 cows after that and rotate bulls with them for the last four weeks of breeding. We will probably just run two bulls at a time in the field with the cows with AI alongside just to be sure.