With the period of peak calving now past on a number of the programme farms, the focus is turning towards grazing management and silage planning ahead of the breeding season.
As silage ground is closed up, it puts greater pressure on the grazing platform. While ground conditions are good, grass growth is still sluggish.
There is an adequate growth response on paddocks that have recently received nitrogen after grazing. The best growth response is occurring on paddocks that have been reseeded in recent years.
With stocking rates expected to increase in the next fortnight as the remaining spring-calving cows go back to grass, fertiliser is being applied at a rate of 25 to 30 units per acre to push grass growth to try to build a grazing surplus ahead of livestock.
The programme farmers are careful to avoid spreading high levels of potash on paddocks where freshly calved cows are grazing to reduce the risk of grass tetany developing.
Silage
Silage ground is now closed on many farms, with target cutting dates of late May to early June. Fertiliser rates have been applied at 80 to 100 units of nitrogen. Silage ground has been slurried and topped up with chemical fertiliser to suit cutting date.
Forage quality, rather than quantity, is the number one priority when making silage. Autumn-calving cows need high-quality silage to provide sufficient energy to support lactation and breeding.
Average-quality silage will not do both and, more often than not it is cow fertility that suffers. As a result, cows will slip in calving date unless high levels of concentrates are offered.
With finishing cattle, high-quality silage of 70 D-value or better can cut meal levels by 1kg to 2kg per head over 100 days. With good silage, rolled barley will often suffice, as there is adequate protein provided by the forage, which is a further cost saving.
Week in review
Spring calving is coming to an end on some programme farms.Lambing is also close to finishing.Silage ground has been closed for harvesting in late May to early June.Fertiliser is being applied after grazing to push grass growth.John Egerton, Roslea, Co Fermanagh
Spring calving
coming to an end
Spring calving is coming to an end with six cows left to calve. I would imagine that after this week, we should have at least five of these animals calved.
After scanning last autumn, we had 46 cows to calve this spring. Between losses to TB and abortion, we had 43 cows to calve, with the first calf born on 25 February.
Calving has gone reasonably well, but no matter how you plan things, you still need a bit of luck on your side. We have been selecting bulls that are proven for calving ease, but we still had four caesarean sections this spring. One was for a calf that was coming backwards, one was a heifer that didn’t open properly at calving and one cow was ringed. Only one section was for a big calf.
Thankfully, all calves are alive and well, which is always a positive given the cost and hassle of operating on a cow. Our policy is not to keep any cow that requires a section. These animals will be run as a separate group and will be culled after weaning. They will be offered meal at the end of summer to help them gain flesh at grass, then they will be weaned early and fattened indoors.
Sheep
Lambing started on 11 March, with 140 ewes and 30 ewe lambs scanned in-lamb. It has been a busy month, with only two ewes left to lamb.
The original scanning indicated 1.9 lambs/ewe, but it would be closer to 2.0 lambs/ewe as there were six sets of triplets that didn’t show up at scanning.
Ewes were grazed on our farm until Christmas. They were then moved to winter grazing and housed in February. After lambing, ewes are put out to fresh grass, with only ewe lambs getting supplementary meal.
Autumn herd
The autumn cows are now scanned and weaned. We will have 45 cows calving in August. Three cows were not in-calf and they will be fattened. Cows are in calf to Seepa Teejay, On-Dit and Tomschoice Ironstone. The cows will be run on the outfarm and brought back home to calve.
Bull beef
This year, we are finishing half of our spring 2016 male cattle as bulls. The other half of this group is being grazed and will be fattened as steers in December as normal.
We usually kill the autumn males as bulls, so we have experience of working with them. Killing more spring-born animals as bulls will increase output, as well as freeing up grazing ground and housing next winter.
Bulls are being weighed monthly. I was a bit disappointed with some weight gains over winter, with bulls averaging 1.5kg/day.
But in the last month, they have really taken off, with an average weight gain of 2.2kg/day. Some bulls have gained 3kg/day in the past month.
The group has an average liveweight of 602kg, so there is roughly a month left before they will be killed.
However, we are monitoring them closely and may take a draw from them earlier than this, as some bulls are up on 700kg liveweight and we do not want to be penalised on carcase weight.
Bulls are on ad-lib meal, which has 50% maize, along with barley and distillers.
All being well, they will kill out at 380kg to 400kg carcase weight.
Grazing
Ground conditions have been good in recent weeks, allowing us to get cattle outside. Freshly calved cows are now at grass, along with last year’s spring- and autumn-born calves.
The autumn calves were weaned three weeks ago. Two weeks before weaning, they were allowed outside to graze during the day and re-housed at night, which was a great help in breaking the cow and calf bond.
We have 130 cattle grazing plus sheep, so there is a big demand for grass at the moment. Grass growth is still slow, but it is coming.
We spread slurry in early February and followed this up with one bag per acre of 27:4:4 just before St Patrick’s Day.
After spreading fertiliser, there was heavy rain and I thought that the nitrogen would be lost. But there is a visible difference in terms of grass growth and grass covers on the ground that got 27:4:4 and the ground that missed out.
Silage
We closed off 45 acres of silage ground on 1 April. It got slurry and fertiliser to bring it up to 100 units of nitrogen. Silage ground was closed much earlier this year, as we hope to cut early and see if it makes a difference to silage quality.
Silage is normally harvested in early June. Last year, we started mowing grass based on a dry weather forecast. However, after the grass was mowed, there was heavy rain, which obviously affected subsequent silage quality.
Good silage is important for our finishing cattle and autumn-calving cows. Hopefully, we get lucky with the cutting dates this year and can save on concentrate feeding this winter.
With the period of peak calving now past on a number of the programme farms, the focus is turning towards grazing management and silage planning ahead of the breeding season.
As silage ground is closed up, it puts greater pressure on the grazing platform. While ground conditions are good, grass growth is still sluggish.
There is an adequate growth response on paddocks that have recently received nitrogen after grazing. The best growth response is occurring on paddocks that have been reseeded in recent years.
With stocking rates expected to increase in the next fortnight as the remaining spring-calving cows go back to grass, fertiliser is being applied at a rate of 25 to 30 units per acre to push grass growth to try to build a grazing surplus ahead of livestock.
The programme farmers are careful to avoid spreading high levels of potash on paddocks where freshly calved cows are grazing to reduce the risk of grass tetany developing.
Silage
Silage ground is now closed on many farms, with target cutting dates of late May to early June. Fertiliser rates have been applied at 80 to 100 units of nitrogen. Silage ground has been slurried and topped up with chemical fertiliser to suit cutting date.
Forage quality, rather than quantity, is the number one priority when making silage. Autumn-calving cows need high-quality silage to provide sufficient energy to support lactation and breeding.
Average-quality silage will not do both and, more often than not it is cow fertility that suffers. As a result, cows will slip in calving date unless high levels of concentrates are offered.
With finishing cattle, high-quality silage of 70 D-value or better can cut meal levels by 1kg to 2kg per head over 100 days. With good silage, rolled barley will often suffice, as there is adequate protein provided by the forage, which is a further cost saving.
Week in review
Spring calving is coming to an end on some programme farms.Lambing is also close to finishing.Silage ground has been closed for harvesting in late May to early June.Fertiliser is being applied after grazing to push grass growth.John Egerton, Roslea, Co Fermanagh
Spring calving
coming to an end
Spring calving is coming to an end with six cows left to calve. I would imagine that after this week, we should have at least five of these animals calved.
After scanning last autumn, we had 46 cows to calve this spring. Between losses to TB and abortion, we had 43 cows to calve, with the first calf born on 25 February.
Calving has gone reasonably well, but no matter how you plan things, you still need a bit of luck on your side. We have been selecting bulls that are proven for calving ease, but we still had four caesarean sections this spring. One was for a calf that was coming backwards, one was a heifer that didn’t open properly at calving and one cow was ringed. Only one section was for a big calf.
Thankfully, all calves are alive and well, which is always a positive given the cost and hassle of operating on a cow. Our policy is not to keep any cow that requires a section. These animals will be run as a separate group and will be culled after weaning. They will be offered meal at the end of summer to help them gain flesh at grass, then they will be weaned early and fattened indoors.
Sheep
Lambing started on 11 March, with 140 ewes and 30 ewe lambs scanned in-lamb. It has been a busy month, with only two ewes left to lamb.
The original scanning indicated 1.9 lambs/ewe, but it would be closer to 2.0 lambs/ewe as there were six sets of triplets that didn’t show up at scanning.
Ewes were grazed on our farm until Christmas. They were then moved to winter grazing and housed in February. After lambing, ewes are put out to fresh grass, with only ewe lambs getting supplementary meal.
Autumn herd
The autumn cows are now scanned and weaned. We will have 45 cows calving in August. Three cows were not in-calf and they will be fattened. Cows are in calf to Seepa Teejay, On-Dit and Tomschoice Ironstone. The cows will be run on the outfarm and brought back home to calve.
Bull beef
This year, we are finishing half of our spring 2016 male cattle as bulls. The other half of this group is being grazed and will be fattened as steers in December as normal.
We usually kill the autumn males as bulls, so we have experience of working with them. Killing more spring-born animals as bulls will increase output, as well as freeing up grazing ground and housing next winter.
Bulls are being weighed monthly. I was a bit disappointed with some weight gains over winter, with bulls averaging 1.5kg/day.
But in the last month, they have really taken off, with an average weight gain of 2.2kg/day. Some bulls have gained 3kg/day in the past month.
The group has an average liveweight of 602kg, so there is roughly a month left before they will be killed.
However, we are monitoring them closely and may take a draw from them earlier than this, as some bulls are up on 700kg liveweight and we do not want to be penalised on carcase weight.
Bulls are on ad-lib meal, which has 50% maize, along with barley and distillers.
All being well, they will kill out at 380kg to 400kg carcase weight.
Grazing
Ground conditions have been good in recent weeks, allowing us to get cattle outside. Freshly calved cows are now at grass, along with last year’s spring- and autumn-born calves.
The autumn calves were weaned three weeks ago. Two weeks before weaning, they were allowed outside to graze during the day and re-housed at night, which was a great help in breaking the cow and calf bond.
We have 130 cattle grazing plus sheep, so there is a big demand for grass at the moment. Grass growth is still slow, but it is coming.
We spread slurry in early February and followed this up with one bag per acre of 27:4:4 just before St Patrick’s Day.
After spreading fertiliser, there was heavy rain and I thought that the nitrogen would be lost. But there is a visible difference in terms of grass growth and grass covers on the ground that got 27:4:4 and the ground that missed out.
Silage
We closed off 45 acres of silage ground on 1 April. It got slurry and fertiliser to bring it up to 100 units of nitrogen. Silage ground was closed much earlier this year, as we hope to cut early and see if it makes a difference to silage quality.
Silage is normally harvested in early June. Last year, we started mowing grass based on a dry weather forecast. However, after the grass was mowed, there was heavy rain, which obviously affected subsequent silage quality.
Good silage is important for our finishing cattle and autumn-calving cows. Hopefully, we get lucky with the cutting dates this year and can save on concentrate feeding this winter.
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