The young bulls on Tullamore Farm are on average within three weeks of their first birthday. Having been housed for winter in late October, they weighed 330kg on 7 November.

This week, they averaged 466kg, meaning they have gained 1.48kg/day since housing.

Performance has increased in recent weeks, as meal feeding has been upped to 8kg/day at this point.

Since their last weighing after Christmas, farm manager Shaun Diver says that they have done just over 1.6kg/day.

Meal feeding is split into two 4kg feeds, offered morning and evening to manage the acid load on the rumen of the animal.

Feeding too much meal in one offering can lead to acidosis problems in cattle where the pH of the rumen falls below normal levels and normal digestive function is disrupted.

Feed or sell?

Speaking to Shaun about the next step for the bulls, he said that, usually, it would be to continue at 8kg of meal until the end of the month, at which point they would transition slowly from the current weanling mix (15.5% crude protein) to a finishing ration (12% crude protein).

“We would typically buy in a load of finishing meal at the end of February and then start to mix the two rations for a few weeks to ease the transition to the new meal. Once they are fully transferred to the new ration, they would be built up to ad-lib meal feeding by around St Patrick's Day.”

Shaun Diver moving bulls to the crush for weighing. \ Philip Doyle

Over the past number of years, the bulls have averaged a lifetime intake of around 1.6t of meal per animal. With more than 100 days of finishing on ad-lib meal still to come, more than half of this concentrate is still to be consumed.

Given where the cost of meal is at currently, with a finishing ration costing between €410/t and €420/t, and where the trade for cattle is in the marts, it makes sense to at least consider selling stock at this stage.

Meal costs alone to bring these bulls through to finish will likely add up to over €370/head from now until slaughter.

Mart trade

The top third of bull weanlings over 450kg averaged €3.31/kg this week, according to the Irish Farmers Journal MartBids analysis.

Many of the bulls in the shed would fall into this category, with the remainder sitting at or above the average, which still sits at €3/kg this week.

It would mean the bulls would come into somewhere around €1,400 and €1,550 if they were sold currently.

Selling some now and feeding the rest may be the best option, although it would be hard to do so and have a fair comparison come July, as you would tend to sell the best animals now and leave behind the lighter and more average stock.

The decision is yet to be finalised and we will report on it again in the coming weeks.