January is a good month to review weanling performance on beef farms. Weighing animals should be central to this, as weights will give a definitive prognosis on an animal’s performance. Housing, health and nutrition are the three central cogs to good performance and without all three, performance will be poor.

In terms of housing, lying space is important. Every year, we see weanlings not performing because they are bunched into a shed with inadequate lying space.

Health is also extremely important if weight gains are to be maximised. Depending on pneumonia incidences on particular farms, vaccination may be an option.

Fluke is more prevalent on some farms, particularly those wetter in nature

If it’s been an issue in the past, veterinary advice should be taken on whether to vaccinate or not.

Remember, vaccination won’t cure problems and it won’t mask poor management. Worm treatment should have already been given.

Fluke is more prevalent on some farms, particularly those wetter in nature. Take some faecal samples and decide whether or not to dose for fluke based on the results.

Rumen fluke incidences are also getting more common, but the faecal sample results will also determine whether a rumen fluke dose is needed.

Dairy calf-to-beef weanlings on the Irish Farmers Journal dairy calf to beef demonstration farm have gained .8kg/day since birth at the last weighing on 15 January 2020.

Lice is the final piece of the health jigsaw and a bad lice problem can lead to very poor weight gains. Most pour-ons with residual activity will give up to six weeks cover, so if cattle were treated in November, they may need a second treatment. Clipping will help.

Nutrition

Nutrition is one of the most important aspects of weanling performance. As weanlings are generally light, their physical intake potential is also small. Anything they eat needs to be of the highest quality.This means feeding the best silage available – the higher the silage quality, the less meal will be required.

It is reccommended to feed 1.5kg concentrates/head/day with 70 DMD silage and 2kg/head/day with 65 DMD silage.

Hally Demonstration Farm

Weanling performance is down a little on the demo farm in Tipperary. While performance picked up during the winter months, calves are back 25-35kg on 2018 weights.

There are currently 140 dairy beef weanlings being reared on John Hally’s farm just outside Cashel. There is a 50:50 male/female mix with four breeds involved, Aberdeen Angus, Hereford, Limousin and Belgian Blue. Calves were moved onto the farm from two to four weeks of age, reared on milk replacer and grazed during 2019. Figure 1 outlines the weights of the weanlings on 15 January 2020.

Weights range from 273kg for the Hereford males to 290kg for the Aberdeen Angus females. Lifetime weight gains are detailed in Figure 2.

The animals with the highest weight gains were the Aberdeen Angus females and the Limousin females at .84/kg/day. The animals with the lowest weight gains were the Belgian Blue females at .77kg/day. Winter performance has been good, with weight gains ranging from .81 kg/day to .92/kg/day.

Management

Weanlings have been fed 2kg/head/day of a 16% protein ration since housing, along with ad-lib 72 DMD silage. Weanlings got a fluke, worm and lice dose on 15 October and were also vaccinated for pneumonia in October and November. All male weanlings were castrated on 7 October.

Weanlings were housed on 15 November. Dry paddocks were closed up early and the aim is to turn out weanlings as soon as weather conditions allow. While behind 25-35kg on last year’s weanlings, at this point they should be still on target to reach 300kg by turnout.

The biggest difference in management between 2018 and 2019 was finishing concentrate feeding during the summer months. In 2018, calves stayed on 1kg/head/day at grazing. In 2019, grass quality was high so concentrates ceased.

While calves are younger in 2019, there may be an argument for feeding calves at grass to achieve better weight gains on younger animals. Putting on 20-30kg during the finishing phase will be a lot more expensive than the €0.25/day cost of feeding 1kg/head/day during the grazing season.

Concentrate feeding will drop back to 1kg/head/day in February in advance of turnout to avail of compensatory growth. There are currently nine 2019-born Belgian Blue steers left on the farm from the 2019 batch. These steers will be slaughtered in the next 10 days.