Prayers were answered this week with more than enough rain falling in the last seven days on Tullamore Farm. Grazing conditions are good, but if we get the further rainfall that is forecast some of our wetter paddocks will get a bit messy around the last half days' grazing.

If the wet conditions continue farm manager Shaun Diver says he will move cows and calves a little quicker to avoid damaging paddocks.

Grass growth is back up again after the rain with the farm growing 70kg DM/ha/day. Demand is currently running at 51kg DM/ha/day so if good growth continues, the chances are there will be more paddocks to take out in the next two weeks. Average farm cover is 808kg DM/ha which is still a little high but manageable.

Fifteen acres which were reseeded four weeks ago have started to emerge and will be ready to be grazed with sheep in the next three to four weeks.

Silage fertiliser has also been spread on second-cut silage fields. Eighty units of CAN have been spread along with 2,000 gallons/ac of slurry as the second cut will need to be completed before 24 July.

Bulls

We have 14 of the 2018-born bulls slaughtered so far with more due to be slaughtered at the end of this week. Base price has dropped dramatically, with a €0.30/kg difference currently between 2018 and 2019 prices, culminating in a €120 hit on a 400kg carcase. It’s a catch-22 situation with our under-16 month bulls coming close to over-16 months and have to be sold to get the rewards of being paid on the grid.

Open Day

Preparations are underway for our National Open Day taking place on Wednesday 24 July on Tullamore Farm. Live demos will take place throughout the day with animal health workshops also taking place in the yard area on topics such as sheep foot paring, footbathing, body condition scoring ahead of breeding, RAM MOTs, cattle handling and assessing the finishing stages of cattle.

Breeding

Breeding is continuing with a small number of repeats coming in. Three cows that haven’t cycled will be examined this week to determine whether there is any issue. Lambs have received a dose in the last two weeks and were also treated for flies. It is expected that the first lambs will be ready for drafting at the end of June.