Newford Farm in Athenry, Co Galway, is waiting for calving to kick off in earnest. Two calves were born on Friday and another on Saturday. They join one calf that was born premature and is thriving well but farm manager Matthew Murphy is waiting for a spike in activity with 22 cows now moved to the pre-calving straw-bedded area.

As reported previously, 64 out of 99 cows put forward for breeding held to first conception while there are also 21 heifers due to calve in the first cycle. While waiting for the calving boom, a number of other tasks have been carried out in recent weeks.

Slurry has been applied to drier areas of the farm with an umbilical system to take pressure off slatted tanks while yearling cattle were weighed on 30 January to monitor performance over the housing period.

Steers

The 61 steers weighed 400kg on average, achieving an average daily gain (ADG) of 0.64kg/day since housing on 10 November. Heifer performance is also on target with heifers averaging 371kg and achieving an ADG of 0.62kg/day.

Looking at Teagasc records, performance is on par with 2017 where steers gained 0.65kg daily and heifers 0.58kg over the corresponding period. The current crop of yearlings are slightly ahead in terms of overall liveweight with 2016-born steers weighing an average of 398kg on 7 February 2016, while heifers weighed 375kg on the same date.

Meal feeding

Meal feeding for these animals has ceased in advance of turnout. Grass covers on two out-farm blocks, where yearlings will be grazing, are good at 730kg DM/ha and 927kg DM/ha, but ground conditions are still some way off turning out yearlings.

The results of the third abortion case showed the cause as a bacterial infection. This animal will continue to be isolated from the remainder of suckler cows and will be fattened for culling.

Read more

Watch: Newford Herd – what are steers and weanlings worth?

Watch: dealing with 2ft of rainfall since May at Newford Farm