Grass growth is surging as temperatures increase and with warmer weather forecast through to next week, grazing will now be getting ahead of cattle.
With a surplus of grass now building on the programme farms, the farmers will be trying to bring the grazing block back under control by creating a grazing wedge.
By walking the farm weekly to monitor grass growth, the farmers will identify how many paddocks they can close off for silage.
Some of this silage can be removed along with the main first-cut, or taken out as baled silage and stored separately.
These bales of high-quality silage can then be targeted to cattle such as bulls or autumn-calving cows in winter, or fed back to animals in autumn when grass growth is under pressure.
Creating a wedge
Creating a grass wedge is important so that cattle are always moving into swards of highly digestible grass, which will support lactation in spring-calving cows or high levels of liveweight gain in growing animals. By creating a wedge, grazing paddocks will have a range of grass covers, with cattle mainly grazing the paddocks with heavier covers and the lowest covers being fertilised and rested.
This means that grass growth is much more staggered and easier to manage during the period of peak grass growth.
The grazing wedge and rotational grazing will quickly identify when there is a grazing surplus, or deficit, likely to happen well in advance of it actually materialising, allowing the farmers to take corrective action.
Week in review
Ground conditions have improved significantly with settled weather.Grass growth has finally kicked off on the programme farms.With higher grass growth, grazing will be getting ahead of cattle.Farmer focus: Barry Carty, Garrison, Co Fermanagh
Autumn cows scanned
in-calf
The good weather last week has helped to improve ground conditions and I took full advantage of this to get cows out to grass after a long winter.
Before cows were turned out, I scanned the autumn cows on 1 May to see how many animals were in-calf.
From 33 cows that were served, I had 30 settled in-calf, which was pleasing given the difficulties that the winter presented.
I also scanned some autumn cows in March that were served very early in the breeding period, so I should have 40 cows set to calve down from late August to November.
Breeding
The autumn cows were served to AI, which I carried out myself. Breeding ran from 15 November to the end of January.
All cows were served to Charolais sires, as my farming system is based around selling cattle live as yearling stores.
I find that Charolais calves are always in strong demand and return higher prices in the mart.
I have mostly used Fiston (FSZ) on cows, as he is a proven sire for terminal traits such as growth and conformation. He is also OK for calving. Cows that repeated ran with my new stock bull, which is also a Charolais.
In the past, I would have used a mix of breeds when using AI on cows, as I would have tried to keep a few heifers for replacements.
Simpler system
However, since joining the programme, I have changed to a much simpler system whereby replacement heifers will be purchased in-calf annually, leaving me to focus on using purely terminal sires that will maximise calf weight and sale value.
The in-calf heifers are being sourced from a known farm, with the most recent group purchased from one of the other programme farmers who had surplus heifers for sale.
With a fragmented farm, I think that moving to this system of sourcing replacements rather than trying to breed my own will really help to simplify the system.
Weaning
The early autumn-calving cows have also been weaned, with 16 of the strongest calves sold in early May to help ease the demand for feed and housing space.
Bull calves weighed 270kg and did well in the mart, selling above £800. The lighter calves are being held to increase weight before they are sold.
I will most likely hold them until late summer to maximise liveweight and sale value. Calves have access to a creep feeder to help maintain performance at grass.
There are still seven autumn cows with lighter calves at foot. I am planning to wean these in the next six weeks.
Breeding ongoing for spring-calving cows
Calving in the spring herd finished at the end of March and cows are now being bred for next year. The earliest-calving spring cows were bred to AI as they were still housed.
The later-calving cows are running with the Charolais bull and were turned out to grass last week. All cows got an all-trace mineral bolus before the start of the breeding period to try to increase conception rates.
Breeding will run to late June, with cows being scanned in August. Empty cows will be removed and sold live through the mart, after a short feeding period to improve body condition.
Prior to joining the programme, I usually sold the spring-born calves in autumn. But last year, I held them over winter and sold them in March straight to a finisher.
With calves weighing close to 400kg at sale time, their sale value was greatly increased. I am planning to do the same this year with my spring-born calves.
Silage
This means I need to budget for extra silage to feed stock. If the weather holds up over the next week, I have 24 acres of reseeded grass ready to cut for silage, with another 23 acres of older pasture probably ready for cutting in two weeks time.
All silage work is carried out using my own equipment, which is a big advantage on this farm, as we can get silage made when weather provides a good window of opportunity.
The reseeded silage ground received slurry in March and was topped up with urea and 22:4:14, plus sulphur, in April.
Fertiliser was applied based on soil analysis and, as ground was low in phosphate, I also applied a bag of DAP and I think this has been a big benefit in getting grass to grow this year.
Once silage is harvested, ground will get slurry as soon as possible, with fertiliser applied to try to get a second cut made in July.
Grass growth is surging as temperatures increase and with warmer weather forecast through to next week, grazing will now be getting ahead of cattle.
With a surplus of grass now building on the programme farms, the farmers will be trying to bring the grazing block back under control by creating a grazing wedge.
By walking the farm weekly to monitor grass growth, the farmers will identify how many paddocks they can close off for silage.
Some of this silage can be removed along with the main first-cut, or taken out as baled silage and stored separately.
These bales of high-quality silage can then be targeted to cattle such as bulls or autumn-calving cows in winter, or fed back to animals in autumn when grass growth is under pressure.
Creating a wedge
Creating a grass wedge is important so that cattle are always moving into swards of highly digestible grass, which will support lactation in spring-calving cows or high levels of liveweight gain in growing animals. By creating a wedge, grazing paddocks will have a range of grass covers, with cattle mainly grazing the paddocks with heavier covers and the lowest covers being fertilised and rested.
This means that grass growth is much more staggered and easier to manage during the period of peak grass growth.
The grazing wedge and rotational grazing will quickly identify when there is a grazing surplus, or deficit, likely to happen well in advance of it actually materialising, allowing the farmers to take corrective action.
Week in review
Ground conditions have improved significantly with settled weather.Grass growth has finally kicked off on the programme farms.With higher grass growth, grazing will be getting ahead of cattle.Farmer focus: Barry Carty, Garrison, Co Fermanagh
Autumn cows scanned
in-calf
The good weather last week has helped to improve ground conditions and I took full advantage of this to get cows out to grass after a long winter.
Before cows were turned out, I scanned the autumn cows on 1 May to see how many animals were in-calf.
From 33 cows that were served, I had 30 settled in-calf, which was pleasing given the difficulties that the winter presented.
I also scanned some autumn cows in March that were served very early in the breeding period, so I should have 40 cows set to calve down from late August to November.
Breeding
The autumn cows were served to AI, which I carried out myself. Breeding ran from 15 November to the end of January.
All cows were served to Charolais sires, as my farming system is based around selling cattle live as yearling stores.
I find that Charolais calves are always in strong demand and return higher prices in the mart.
I have mostly used Fiston (FSZ) on cows, as he is a proven sire for terminal traits such as growth and conformation. He is also OK for calving. Cows that repeated ran with my new stock bull, which is also a Charolais.
In the past, I would have used a mix of breeds when using AI on cows, as I would have tried to keep a few heifers for replacements.
Simpler system
However, since joining the programme, I have changed to a much simpler system whereby replacement heifers will be purchased in-calf annually, leaving me to focus on using purely terminal sires that will maximise calf weight and sale value.
The in-calf heifers are being sourced from a known farm, with the most recent group purchased from one of the other programme farmers who had surplus heifers for sale.
With a fragmented farm, I think that moving to this system of sourcing replacements rather than trying to breed my own will really help to simplify the system.
Weaning
The early autumn-calving cows have also been weaned, with 16 of the strongest calves sold in early May to help ease the demand for feed and housing space.
Bull calves weighed 270kg and did well in the mart, selling above £800. The lighter calves are being held to increase weight before they are sold.
I will most likely hold them until late summer to maximise liveweight and sale value. Calves have access to a creep feeder to help maintain performance at grass.
There are still seven autumn cows with lighter calves at foot. I am planning to wean these in the next six weeks.
Breeding ongoing for spring-calving cows
Calving in the spring herd finished at the end of March and cows are now being bred for next year. The earliest-calving spring cows were bred to AI as they were still housed.
The later-calving cows are running with the Charolais bull and were turned out to grass last week. All cows got an all-trace mineral bolus before the start of the breeding period to try to increase conception rates.
Breeding will run to late June, with cows being scanned in August. Empty cows will be removed and sold live through the mart, after a short feeding period to improve body condition.
Prior to joining the programme, I usually sold the spring-born calves in autumn. But last year, I held them over winter and sold them in March straight to a finisher.
With calves weighing close to 400kg at sale time, their sale value was greatly increased. I am planning to do the same this year with my spring-born calves.
Silage
This means I need to budget for extra silage to feed stock. If the weather holds up over the next week, I have 24 acres of reseeded grass ready to cut for silage, with another 23 acres of older pasture probably ready for cutting in two weeks time.
All silage work is carried out using my own equipment, which is a big advantage on this farm, as we can get silage made when weather provides a good window of opportunity.
The reseeded silage ground received slurry in March and was topped up with urea and 22:4:14, plus sulphur, in April.
Fertiliser was applied based on soil analysis and, as ground was low in phosphate, I also applied a bag of DAP and I think this has been a big benefit in getting grass to grow this year.
Once silage is harvested, ground will get slurry as soon as possible, with fertiliser applied to try to get a second cut made in July.
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