In the last week there has been a growth rate of 109 kg DM/ha/day on Tullamore farm. A total farm cover of 1,188 kg/DM/ha was recorded, this excludes any ground closed for silage.

With grass in such abundance this now presents a new challenge in relation to keeping quality grass in front of cattle. The plan now will be to skip three paddocks, 15 acres in total, and take silage from these at the next dry weather break.

Reseeding

The past few days provided a great opportunity to get the kale ground reseeded. Twelve acres of kale ground from last year was reseeded for grassland with a mix of Abergain, Aberchoice, Dunluce and Drumbo over the weekend.

The field was ploughed, power-harrowed and sown with a one pass system. Two-and-a-half bags of 0/7/30 will be spread on the reseed today.

Breeding

Breeding season is now in full swing. Breeding started on Friday 27 April and so far 31 cows and 11 heifers have been served to AI.

Predominantly maternal sires are being used currently, Simmental/Limousin sires for the cows and easy calving Limousin/Angus sires on heifers. Charolais semen was purchased for some of the later calving cows.

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