The rain has finally landed at Tullamore Farm, with a good splash received over the last week or so.
Farm manager Shaun Diver said you could see the difference within 24 hours in terms of colour, with things looking greener. The arrival of moisture has not been reflected in the growth figure just yet.
This week's grass wedge. The average farm cover is 630kgDM/ha, up from just over 500 two weeks ago.
There was a grass walk done on Tuesday and the growth figure was 35kgDM/ha, while demand remains around the 41kgDM/ha mark. However, there were only really three days of growth with moisture in that measurement, so we are confident by next week we will be growing in excess of demand.
On Thursday 18 June, 40 acres were spread with a bag of pasture sward to the acre ahead of the forecast rain. This week a further 30 acres received a half bag of protected urea to the acre to boost things along.
Cows and calves had been getting supplemented with a bale of silage for the last couple of weeks as grass supply had been tightening. However this has been pulled again from Monday. They entered a cover of 1,300kg on Wednesday and they should get the weekend out of it. The next paddock they are due to go into was over 800kgDM/ha when measured on Tuesday so should be ready for them by the start of the week.
There is still a lot of stem in some paddocks and 15 acres have been topped after grazing in the last number of days. Shaun estimates that about 60% of the farm will need to be topped in the coming weeks post-grazing. This will improve the grazing quality for the next rotation.
Sheep
Lambs are weaned now 10 days and the ewes are being used to follow a batch of cows and calves to clean up after them, which is reducing the amount of topping that needs to be done.
Lambs grazing post-weaning in a secure field beside the yard.
The first 10 lambs were drafted for slaughter this week, weighing between 41kg and 46kg. They came into €113/head, with an average carcase weight of 20.4kg giving an average kill-out of 49%. All graded R3.
Lambs are getting supplemented with about 400g/hd/day concentrate and Sean can see more numbers coming fit for slaughter in the coming weeks, so it will be important to go through lambs more regularly from now on.
The rain has finally landed at Tullamore Farm, with a good splash received over the last week or so.
Farm manager Shaun Diver said you could see the difference within 24 hours in terms of colour, with things looking greener. The arrival of moisture has not been reflected in the growth figure just yet.
This week's grass wedge. The average farm cover is 630kgDM/ha, up from just over 500 two weeks ago.
There was a grass walk done on Tuesday and the growth figure was 35kgDM/ha, while demand remains around the 41kgDM/ha mark. However, there were only really three days of growth with moisture in that measurement, so we are confident by next week we will be growing in excess of demand.
On Thursday 18 June, 40 acres were spread with a bag of pasture sward to the acre ahead of the forecast rain. This week a further 30 acres received a half bag of protected urea to the acre to boost things along.
Cows and calves had been getting supplemented with a bale of silage for the last couple of weeks as grass supply had been tightening. However this has been pulled again from Monday. They entered a cover of 1,300kg on Wednesday and they should get the weekend out of it. The next paddock they are due to go into was over 800kgDM/ha when measured on Tuesday so should be ready for them by the start of the week.
There is still a lot of stem in some paddocks and 15 acres have been topped after grazing in the last number of days. Shaun estimates that about 60% of the farm will need to be topped in the coming weeks post-grazing. This will improve the grazing quality for the next rotation.
Sheep
Lambs are weaned now 10 days and the ewes are being used to follow a batch of cows and calves to clean up after them, which is reducing the amount of topping that needs to be done.
Lambs grazing post-weaning in a secure field beside the yard.
The first 10 lambs were drafted for slaughter this week, weighing between 41kg and 46kg. They came into €113/head, with an average carcase weight of 20.4kg giving an average kill-out of 49%. All graded R3.
Lambs are getting supplemented with about 400g/hd/day concentrate and Sean can see more numbers coming fit for slaughter in the coming weeks, so it will be important to go through lambs more regularly from now on.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: