Calving on Tullamore Farm is progressing well, with 17 cows having calved already and no major issues to report.

Across the board, calves have been up quickly to suck, the mothers offering a great supply of colostrum so far.

Of the 17 calves, 10 are heifers and seven are bulls. Heifer calves have averaged 39kg birth weight and bull calves at 43kg.

There was one abortion last week, a first time heifer calved prematurely and the calf didn’t survive. An Aberdeen Angus heifer calf was purchased and the adoption process is ongoing. There was also a case of milk fever this week in a dairy cross cow who had just calved. Farm manager Shaun Diver treated her with a bottle of calcium under the skin and she responded to treatment quickly.

Minerals are being fed across two feeds to make sure all cows are getting access to them. The first 10 calves have been dehorned and vaccinated for pneumonia, with eight of the stronger calves out grazing already. Anaesthetic and a painkiller were used when dehorning the claves.

Grass

Growth was recorded at 17kg/DM/Ha/day over the past seven days, with demand currently running at 7kg/DM/Ha/day. Average farm cover is still running high at 1,224kg/DM/Ha.

Currently 11% of the grazing area has been grazed which is behind target.

At the current rate, the target of having 50% grazed for the start of March won’t be hit – a more realistic target is now 40%.

April-calving cows have about seven days left out on the redstart. It’s just starting to bud, and a close eye is being kept for flowering activity, but cows should be finished in time. These cows will then move to grass to try and speed up the grazing of heavy covers.

A group of 44 heifers continue to graze through covers and are cleaning paddocks out well.

Weanling bulls are up to 7kg of meal at this stage and are due to be weighed next week.

Sheep

Triplets are currently being fed 0.5kg/head/day of ration. There are just four weeks left before lambing starts and these ration levels will be increased by 0.1kg/head/week so the ewes will be up at 0.9 kg/head/day at lambing. Twins are on .3/kg/day. Singles remain outdoors.