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We harvested 55 acres of second-cut silage on 18 July and, because of the dry weather, yields were down on last year.
There was plenty of yield variation in the fields cut, with younger, reseeded swards performing better during the dry spell compared with older swards.
There was 10 acres of second-cut silage that was extremely poor in terms of yield. I decided to bale this field as it was a more cost-effective option than lifting grass with the forage harvester.
The other 45 acres of silage were lifted by a contractor and ensiled in a separate clamp from first-cut silage which makes it easier to target different silage to specific cattle groups.
First cut
First-cut was harvested on 24 May with 70 acres of grass being ensiled. Thankfully, there was a much higher yield of first-cut silage and this grass will be targeted towards growing cattle this winter.
Silage reserves are going to be tight this winter, so I have closed off another 27 acres of grass for a third cut. The ground was fertilised with 2.5 bags/acre of 25-5-5 on 20 July and it received 2,000 gallons/acre of slurry on 21 July.
The farm received some much-needed rain at the same time as fertiliser was applied and we have received further rainfall in the past week.
Daytime temperatures are still high, so hopefully there will be a good growth response over the coming weeks.
Fodder reserves
Normally I would have around 10 acres of wholecrop silage to harvest every year. I would use this as an opportunity to reseed grazing ground by under-sowing barley or wheat with grass. However, I have no wholecrop sown out this year, which is another reason why I am tight for winter fodder. The wet spring left it too late for getting wholecrop sown out in time for harvesting, so a third cut of grass silage should help to boost winter fodder reserves. I also made 35 bales of round bale silage from surplus grass in early June. These bales will be targeted to bulls this winter along with concentrates.
The farm is carrying 74 spring-calving cows with calves at foot along with 24 replacement heifers. There are also 20 autumn-calving cows that have been moved to the spring herd.
There are 12 home-bred store heifers that were born in autumn 2017 along with 12 purchased store heifers. These animals will be finished from the house next spring.
Allowing for a few cows to be culled after scanning, there will be around 220 cattle to over-winter this year.
Table 1 is an example of a simple fodder budget for the farm which gives a rough estimation of how much silage is required this winter.
The budget assumes an average silage intake of 35kg/day for cows, which amounts to around 1t per cow every month.
Depending on feed value and body condition, silage will probably be restricted to less than 35kg/day during the first half of winter, before building up to ad-lib levels closer to calving time.
With no autumn calving herd this year, there will be a significant saving on silage, meal and straw this winter.
Young bulls will start on silage and move on to straw once they move on to ad-lib levels post-Christmas which is another potential fodder saving.
Store heifers will also be finished during the winter, so they should not require a full 180-day housing period and higher levels of meal feeding will also save on silage.
The budget estimates that I will need around 1,000t of silage for the upcoming winter period.
While there are potential fodder savings that can be made with concentrates and straw, it is always good to budget to have surplus silage in the event of another early winter or late spring.
A full winter feed budget will be completed in the coming weeks once silage has been tested and I know exactly which stock will be wintered on farm.
The breeding period for the spring calving herd started on 12 May when the stock bulls were turned out with cows.
There was plenty of breeding activity early on, but things have been much quieter lately. Spring-calving cows are in two breeding groups, one with 39 cows being served by a Limousin bull and 35 cows being served by a Simmental bull.
There were three breeding groups initially, but a young Simmental bull injured his back and his cows had to be split between the remaining groups.
The 20 autumn-calving cows have been served with the Limousin bull and they appear to be settled in-calf. These cows have moved to join the spring herd and will calve in February to March 2019.
There are also 24 replacement heifers being served by an Angus bull. Cows and heifers are due to be scanned in September.
All empty cows will be weaned and fattened as early as possible. My target is to have between 100 and 110 cows calving down next spring.
Bull beef
All bulls born in spring 2017 have now been slaughtered. There were 26 bulls killed during June and July.
Bulls were typically around 14 months of age at slaughter and averaged 406kg deadweight, with most bulls achieving E or U grades.
Eight bulls born last autumn have been housed for finishing by Christmas.
This is my last year to finish autumn bulls, as the herd will be 100% spring-calving from now onwards.
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