Many farmers across the country would have been waiting with bated breath to carry out grass walks this week. Growth was relatively slow for the first half of April but as temperatures climbed into the early 20s last week, the expectation was that growth rates would follow suit.

This has been exactly the case on Tulllamore Farm. Growth for the last week has been 83kgDM/ha/day. Significantly, that is well in excess of demand which currently stands at 31kg DM/ha.

Farm manager Shaun Diver reports that as things stand, there are no overly heavy covers yet thanks to continued grazing since mid-February.

However, it will be important to keep a close eye on paddocks as they come ailing the rotation. Where covers are getting too strong, surplus grass will be taken out for silage bales.

The entire grazing platform has received one round of N in the form of urea. Another round of spreading is planned for the near future.

Cattle

Calving is as good as finished now with just one mature cow left to calve. She is springing-up well so should be calved before the weekend. As detailed in last week’s report, preparations for breeding are in full swing now.

All cows will have received their BVD vaccination prior to breeding while most of the herd will also have received their Leptospirosis vaccine.

The majority of cows will be bred to AI this year. This year’s bull team will be finalised before the weekend and straws will be ordered after that.

For the latter part of the breeding season the plan will be to run a stock bull with the herd to mop-up. Carrying out AI on the final few cows can often be highly labour intensive which is unnecessary. The farm is considering the purchase of a Saler stock bull to do this job.

Sheep

Lambing finished up on Tuesday night with the final ewe lamb giving birth to a good single lamb.

Sheep are grazing ahead of the suckler cows by running under a single strand temporary fence. As calves’ appetites for grass increase, they too will be able to graze ahead of the cows with the sheep for the best quality grass.

Lambs are thriving well at present. One of the next big management tasks will be to give lambs their vaccine against clostridial disease. They need to be done at six weeks of age. Pregnant ewes were vaccinated one month before lambing to provide clostridial-cover for the early stages of the lambs’ lives.