Newford farm in Co Galway has experienced an upturn in fortunes during the month of August. The farm received a blanket application of a bag of CAN/acre in the last week of July to coincide with forecast rain. In total, the farm received 49mm of rainfall in July and this in turn triggered a surge in grass growth as reflected in Figure 1.

Growth rates in the first week of August were recorded at 100kg DM/ha to 120kg DM/ha, with regular rainfall and favourable temperatures since then holding growth rates north of 75kg DM/ha for the first three weeks of the month. The spike in grass growth rates along with steps taken during the drought to reduce grass demand is allowing the farm to replenish fodder reserves. This has been made possible by farm manager Matthew Murphy putting a plan in place that includes completing a regular grass budget and taking quick action.

There were 128 bales harvested from paddocks and removed as surplus grass since the start of the month with the volume of silage saved on par to that used to supplement the herd during drought conditions in July. Matthew expects that there will be another 100 plus bales harvested in the coming week, which should also put the farm back on track in meeting its winter fodder requirement. There will be no further paddocks taken out of the rotation for baled silage with attention now turning to building a bank of grass for the autumn. A bag of CAN/acre will be blanket spread over the entire farm in the coming week.

Reduced demand

While grass growth rates have put the farm in a good position, a significant contributor to the farm replenishing fodder reserves is steps taken during drought conditions to reduce feed demand. A decision was taken in mid-July to sell the batch of 45 spring 2017-born heifers. The farm had already been considering the sale of the batch of heifers from early 2018 due to the loss of the 15ha Raheen Woods block and this decision was brought forward due to the drought.

The heifers were moved off the farm on 18 July to a Dawn Meats feedlot with prices based on market values and in line with those analysed through the Irish Farmers Journal MartWatch price analysis. The heifers weighed 460kg on average and at an average price of €2.25/kg realised a sale value of €1,035 each. The earlier sale date will hit 2018 output levels but selling heifers was viewed as having less of an impact on output than selling steers.

The 106 2017-born cattle were being supplemented at the time with three bales of silage daily with an allocation of grass. The sale also allowed farm manager Matthew Murphy to make a few immediate adjustments. The 61 remaining steers were divided into two groups with the smaller numbers facilitating the introduction of concentrate supplementation to replace silage supplementation. Concentrates were introduced at 3kg per head initially and increased to 5kg daily over the following fortnight.

This level of supplementation to steers has been continued throughout August, with the aim of continuing to reduce grass demand while also maximising the number of cattle that can potentially be slaughtered off grass. The blueprint for the farm is to slaughter 70% to 80% of cattle off grass which has proved to be challenging in recent years. Earlier supplementation may help in this regard and limit the higher-cost indoor finishing period, which eroded margins in 2017.

The earlier housing of stock in 2017, delayed turnout in spring and the effects of drought will hit both physical and financial performance in 2018. Looking at the drought, there was approximately 102t of silage fed over the 27 days where supplementation was required while there was close to 7t of meal fed to finishing cattle and calves being creep fed. At a cost of €35/t for silage and €240/t for concentrates it is an addition of €5,250 to the farm’s variable costs or close to €100/ha.

Preferential treatment

The reduced farm stocking rate and the lift in grass growth rates have also allowed preferential treatment to be given to the batch of 20 first calvers, six cows which have fallen below their target body condition score and four cows rearing twins.

These cows and their 34 calves are currently grazing on the Gort na Habhainn block of land along with a batch of 20 steers. Removing these cows from the Newford block has led to a better balance in grass demand across the three grazing blocks as detailed in Table 1. Demand has been kept at the lowest level on the Tuohy’s block as there is pressure on to harvest silage to sustain weanlings which will be housed on the block this winter.

Breeding performance

While finishing has proven challenging, a constant positive for the Newford herd of first cross Angus and Hereford cows from the dairy herd, has been their breeding performance. Scanning took place two weeks ago and shows 91 out of the 100 cows put forward for breeding in-calf.

This is a similar performance to 2017 despite the breeding season being a week shorter at ten weeks and 100% AI being used. The scanning results, allay any fears that drought may have had a negative effect on conception rates. Analysis of the scanning results shows 60 cows holding to first service which represents a conception rate of over 60% with 90% of the herd submitted for AI in the first three weeks of the breeding season. There were 20 cows which held to second service while 11 cows held to third service. There were also four sets of twins identified with one cow scanned in calf with twins for the third consecutive year. Operating AI in a 100-cow herd will be discussed by Matthew at the open day.

Newford Farm is holding a national open day on Wednesday 5 September with farm walks taking place from 2pm to 6pm. The Department of Agriculture approved Knowledge Transfer Scheme national event, sign in 2pm to 4pm, will discuss several topics including the farm’s physical and financial performance, grassland management, breeding performance, health programme and the finishing plan in place.

A number of industry stakeholders have also confirmed attendance and will have stands present on the day while additional topics covered include a demonstration by Dawn Meats on selecting cattle for slaughter while Teagasc advisers will be on hand to address any fodder concerns farmers may have.