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Philip Keville farms alongside his father Joe on 16ha in Aughamore, Co Leitrim. The land is reasonably good throughout but there are patches of heavy soils. For a number of years the farm has been using a calf-to-weanling system but in the last year, conversion to a finishing system has taken place.
Philip believes this system better suits his farm as he is heavily pushing towards maternal traits in his breeding selection and he believes the male offspring are not suited to the weanling market. At the beginning of the programme, the farm was mainly autumn calving and part of the farm plan was to convert to a fully spring-calving herd. They have successfully done that as all his cows are due to calve next spring.
Bull finishing
This was the first year bulls were fed to slaughter on the farm. The bulls averaged 380kg carcase weight and were aged between 13 and 15 months. The bulls were killed in one group last year and this was the reason for the vast spread in the ages. They were weaned last October, fed on grass and 3kg of grower ration until mid-November and then housed. At the time of housing, they were fed 6kg of grower ration and good-quality silage until they reached 12 months of age.
A finisher ration was then introduced and fed along with quality silage. After a couple of weeks of being introduced to the finisher ration, they were fed ad-lib meal and straw up until the time of slaughter. Philip was happy with how his first year at finishing went, but believes he can do better. This year’s calving spread is a lot more compact and he believes he will be able to carry his bulls up until 16 months. He also plans to creep feed his calves six weeks prior to weaning to make the process less stressful and to have less weight loss over that period.
Breeding
Philip uses 100% AI and selects for maternal traits in the hope of breeding quality replacement heifers. To make the calving spread more compact, a nine-day synchronisation programme is carried out on all breeding animals. On day one, the progesterone device (PRID) is put in along with 2ml of gonadorelin (Ovarelin). On day six, 5ml of prostaglandin (Estrumate) is given. On day seven, the PRID is removed. On day eight, the second 2ml of prostaglandin is given. On day nine, the cow is artificially inseminated.
So far, this programme has worked well and there was a conception rate of 73% at first service. All breeding animals have now been scanned and all are in calf bar one. The remaining heifer is due to be artificially inseminated this Saturday. Any cows that did repeat showed a natural heat nine days after insemination. AI bulls being used on the farm include Potterleagh Mark (CH4160), Islavale Cracker (ISL), Curaheen Gunshot (SI4147), Elderberry Galahad (EBY) and Ewdenvale Ivor (LM2014).
Land drainage
Philip is in the process of carrying out some drainage work on some of his more marginal land. This will help utilise ground and maximise grass. One of the challenges set out at the beginning of the programme was to increase his output by 2t DM/ha. Drains have been installed 10 yards apart running at an angle with the gradient falling towards the main drain. The drain depths are roughly 600mm to 800mm depending on when the permeable layer is hit. A line of 3in drainage stone is filled in at the bottom of the drain and 3in drainage pipe is placed on top of that. The drain is then back-filled to the top. Total cost of the drainage works out at €5.50/metre. Philip believes this will be money well spent if he can better utilise his land.
Once the drainage work has been completed, the ground will be sprayed off, power-harrowed, reseeded and fenced to suit a paddock system.
Silage
The first cut was taken in on 30 May. A yield of 12 bales to the acre was taken from eight acres. All silage ground received 2,500 gallons of slurry and two-and-a-half bags of 18-6-12 along with one-and-a-half bags of CAN per acre on 16 April. For second cut the ground will get a light coating of slurry and 100 units of CAN.
There was also some hay cut on 6 June. It got four days’ wilt with no rain. The hay will be used to feed the bulls when they go on ad-lib meal next year.
Grass
Grass growth rate in the last week was 77kg DM/ha and farm cover is at 980kg DM/ha. Grass growth rate has remained steady over the last few weeks and farm covers have got a little strong. Philip has already taken out paddocks as surplus bales and will take out more in the coming weeks. Philip intends to feed these surplus bales to the bulls at the time of housing as the dry matter digestibility will be quite high in them.
John Greaney
The root of all evil on suckler farms is often a prolonged calving spread. Increased production costs, higher demand on labour and not having a uniform bunch of stock are all consequences of not having a tight calving spread. Philip has faced all these issues since joining the programme. He has worked hard focusing on tightening his calving pattern. As Philip works full time off-farm, the system must be streamlined to reduce labour and all cows will calve down over an eight-week period. This in turn will complement his finishing system as he will have more uniform stock at housing, reducing production costs. He has a passion for breeding top-quality stock. Given the heavy weaning weights Philip was consistently achieving, finishing his own stock was something he always wanted to try. For now, though, all thoughts are on making as much top quality fodder for next winter as reserves are depleted.
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