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The weanling trade is always a difficult one to weigh up, with luck and good timing playing a part in prices along with numerous other factors. This year, of course, the ever-present Brexit was a main compressor of prices, along with the wet autumn.
So a couple of weeks ago, with a slight bit of trepidation, we set off with more weanlings. Surprisingly, the trade this year has remained quite buoyant for stock around the 300kg mark, which is exactly what we had.
Weighing cattle by eye is a skill that has taken me a long time to get the hang of
Of course there’s no fun without a bit of competition, so myself and my father had a “guess the weights” between us in the mart with these calves. Weighing cattle by eye is a skill that has taken me a long time to get the hang of, though my father was an excellent teacher to learn from. Unfortunately for him though, this time the student has become the master, as I took victory with my estimates.
I must say we were pleasantly surprised on the day, with our best bull calf weighing 290kg and hammer falling at €920. These latest calves bring our average for bulls sold so far this year to 320kg at €920, or €2.96/kg.
As it stands, the creep feed has averaged out at about €60/calf, which I’m happy with
At the moment, our heifers stand slightly lower at 302kg and €790, or €2.61/kg though we’ve only had a couple of heifers to sell so far this year, of which one was a freemartin. With only two or possibly three calves yet to sell, including our third set of twins, I certainly can’t complain.
As it stands, the creep feed has averaged out at about €60/calf, which I’m happy with. In my opinion, the amount they have eaten proves worthwhile to each calf in the sales ring, especially as we have sold most calves between six and seven months old this year.
Luckily we managed to leave the cows and calves out until sale day, even though the deluges of rain were becoming more frequent.
The few frosty days in between offered some respite but a creep feeder still remains abandoned at the bottom of one field and it won’t be accessible until next summer. Although if the Donegal postman’s prediction comes true, we may be able to rescue it.
Cows on this farm would normally remain on slats until calving was imminent
Which leaves us with only two cattle left out on grass, though they each have access to a bedded pen. One cow is an old girl who has bad legs and she’s being fed for the moment while we watch for a rise in cow prices. The other is our last cow due this side of the new year, ironically a three-year-old daughter of the aforementioned cow. She’s in-calf to a Limousin bull of our own breeding, and we have her marked on the calendar for the beginning of December.
Cows on this farm would normally remain on slats until calving was imminent. However, this girl is notably heavy in-calf so for her own safety and welfare, we decided to take her out until whatever is in her comes out of her.
Only the other day, I noticed the calf moving on her “wrong side”, which has left me wondering. There couldn’t be a fourth set of twins arriving this year ... could there?
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