Last weekend saw the first of the silage pits being opened and stacks of bales starting to be reduced, with many taking advantage of a dry day on Saturday to house at least some stock on heavier ground in the west and northwest in particular.

Grass dry matter has dropped significantly over the last two weeks, as has the fibre content of the grass being grazed. All this leads to quicker passage rates through animals and less nutrition being consumed each day.

In this case, cows with strong calves still suckling can lose body condition quite quickly as they try to maintain milk production levels through the use of their own body reserves.

Where calves are older than six months it may be best to either wean them at this point or to house both cows and calves for a few weeks prior to weaning where you feel they are too young to wean.

Preserving cow body condition will reduce the winter feed bill over the coming months as spring calving cows can use some reserves throughout November, December and January.

Where there is still a lot of grass on farm, young stock are probably the best option to graze this although performance from grass alone at this stage of the year will be quite poor.

Concentrate feed should be offered to stock remaining outdoors if a decent level of performance is required. Even 1kg/day to 2kg/day can make a huge difference to the overall energy component the diet.

Farmers

Shaun Diver – Tullamore Farm, Co Offaly

I want to protect farm cover as much as I can for the sheep. All calves have been weaned, with the last cows housed for drying off this week.

The earliest weaned cows are back at grass but will be housed in the next 10-14 days. Bull calves are eating 2kg/day concentrates.

The heifers get 1.5kg every second day, as I find they won’t graze out paddocks if being fed all the time.

There were 34 lambs drafted last week, averaging 20.92kg carcase weight. The ram lambs are on 500g/day concentrate while the ewe lambs are getting 350g/day.

There are another 42 picked to go next week which will leave only 18 on the farm. The breeding season will start for the ewes on Tuesday 18 October.

System Suckler to beef

Soil type Variable

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 920

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 47

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 23

Ger McSweeney – Millstreet, Co Cork

We have escaped the worst of the rain but when it does come, ground can get sticky very quickly so it’s important to keep stock moving.

Growth is exceptional for the time of year. I have nearly 50% of the farm closed for winter. The first paddocks closed have covers between 800-900kgDM/ha already, but the plan is to keep them closed.

These fields don’t have a high clover content, so I don’t mind carrying a cover on them.

The high clover swards will be the last closed over winter. This year I am using the nose flaps for weaning the calves.

Cull cows were weaned five weeks ago and I was impressed with the results. I hope it carries through for the rest of the calves. Bulls are being weaned at the moment.

System Suckler to beef

Soil type Variable

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 749

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 29

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 33

Trevor Boland – Dromard, Co Sligo

Wet weather has reduced dry matter in the grass over the last two weeks. Cows are unsettled, you’d want to be moving them every evening to keep them content.

I think I will house some of the first calved cows and their calves this weekend to take the pressure off before breeding starts. There are still six cows to calve, three of them have their time up in the coming days.

I usually target the October bank holiday to start housing but it will be earlier this year. I have plenty of silage so I’m not too concerned.

Two thirds of the beef heifers are left on farm, most are housed for a three week feeding period on silage and meal, while 10 remain at grass. They will be housed after the next draft from the shed.

System Suckler and beef farm

Soil type Mostly dry

Farm cover (kg DM/ha) 547

Growth (kg DM/ha/day) 30

Demand (kg DM/ha/day) 30