Persistent poor weather has delayed turnout of the 140 yearling bullocks and heifers on John Hally’s farm outside Cashel, Co Tipperary.

Cattle were weighed last week in preparation for turnout. The forecast for the remainder of the week looks quite decent and it is hoped to start going out with batches of 15 to 20 animals in the coming days.

Turnout

“We will start turning out once we get a couple of dry days in a row,” said John.

“We will start letting stock out to a silage field down the road a bit first of all. I find if I let them out around the yard they come running up to the wire every time they see a car or a person coming.”

We needed the cattle to perform well over the winter

The winter performance has been excellent, but John points out that it was needed given the housing weights in the backend of the year.

“We needed the cattle to perform well over the winter – last year’s calves didn’t seem to be as good as the year before. They were 10 days to two weeks later coming on farm and that had an affect also.

“We are looking to get animals finished off grass in autumn, so we cannot afford any lag in performance.”

A full breakdown of the winter performance and targets for the coming season at grass is available in this week’s paper.