Our spring herd is due to start calving from 17 February, according to scanning records and all in, we have 86 cows set to calve down, including 30 replacement heifers.

This is an increase on 78 cows calved during spring 2019, and based on scanning dates, we will hit peak-calving during the last week of February and the first week of March.

All cows are in-calf to stock bulls this year, with Simmental and Stabiliser sires covering mature females.

The spring-calving cows are on silage, with minerals fed on top of fodder at a rate of 100g/head on a daily basis

The in-calf heifers are all home-bred animals and are set to calve down to a Limousin stock bull at 24 months of age.

The spring-calving cows are on silage, with minerals fed on top of fodder at a rate of 100g/head on a daily basis.

Pre-calving minerals were introduced on 1 January and the plan is to build supplementary levels up to 150g/head by two weeks before calving.

Building up silage

We have been restricting silage most of the winter, as feed value is high and cows were in good condition, so winter feeding has mostly been geared to hold cows in body condition scores of 2.5 to 3.0.

However, with cows coming closer to calving, we have started building up silage levels in order to have cows on ad-lib levels around two weeks pre-calving.

Currently, cows are getting 33kg/day of first-cut silage on a per head basis, which is fed through a wagon

We have followed this routine for a few years now and it works well for us, as cows are always in fit condition at the point of calving.

Currently, cows are getting 33kg/day of first-cut silage on a per head basis, which is fed through a wagon.

Cows have plenty of feed space when offered fresh silage and this cuts down on bullying within groups.

Silage supplies

After a great grass growing year in 2019, there is still plenty of fodder on-farm. Cows have been predominantly fed a mix of first and third cut over winter.

We have a pit of second-cut silage that is still unopened, and all being well, it will be unused and carried forward to next winter.

Animal health

Cows are up to date in terms of fluke and worm treatments, with a scour vaccine also given in early January.

We vaccinate for scour as the earliest cows will remain housed after calving.

Although calves have access to straw-bedded creep areas that are cleaned out regularly, the vaccine is a good insurance policy to cut down on health problems.

Autumn breeding completed

Breeding finished in our autumn calving herd in mid-December, with 30 cows and 10 heifers bred, up from 28 animals bred during autumn 2018.

As we have the stock bulls on-farm, the 30 cows were split evenly between the Simmental and Stabiliser bulls.

The 10 heifers were again covered by the Limousin bull

This should hopefully give us a compact calving period next August. The 10 heifers were again covered by the Limousin bull.

Cows will be scanned at the end of the month, but so far we have not noticed any real signs of repeat breeding activity.

Diet

Now that breeding has finished, the autumn cows are on a silage-only diet and minerals. Cows are getting first-cut silage on an ad-lib basis.

When analysed, silage had a feed value of 74.6% D-Value, with an energy value of 11.9Mj ME and 14.7% crude protein.

Therefore, silage alone is enough to sustain milk production from mid to late lactation. Cows are holding body condition and milking well.

During the breeding period, mature cows were fed 1kg/day of concentrate to boost energy in the diet.

First-calved heifers were fed 2kg/day of concentrate, but have also been moved to a silage-only diet.

Dairy-bred heifers

We have some first-calved heifers in the autumn herd that are Shorthorn and Hereford cross animals, bred from Holstein-Friesian cows.

These animals were sourced from a dairy farm that we have linked up with to provide summer grazing for its replacement heifers.

There are more dairy-cross heifers set to calve down this spring

Since the dairy-bred heifers calved in autumn, these animals have performed well and we are pleased with the calves they are rearing.

There are more dairy-cross heifers set to calve down this spring, as well as further Shorthorn-cross heifer calves that are being reared to go to the bull again later this year.

Shorthorn-cross calves have been sourced from the dairy herd and will be reared as future herd replacements.

Autumn bulls finished

Our autumn 2018-born bulls have all been slaughtered, with 14 animals in total finished from late November to early January.

Carcase weights ranged from the heaviest animal killing out at 416kg deadweight, down to 365kg. Average age at slaughter was just over 14 months, with bulls gaining over 0.8kg/day of carcase, which at a beef price of 330p/kg, is a daily income of 264p/day.

Finishing diet

Bulls remained housed all summer and were fed high quality silage bales, made from surplus grass on paddocks, right up until slaughter.

We kept the bulls on silage, rather than changing to straw, as we did not want to stall animals during the final stage of the finishing period by changing the diet.

Along with the silage, bulls were fed an average 6kg/day of ration during the finishing phase

Silage quality would typically have been 76 to 78 D-Value and intakes were excellent. Along with the silage, bulls were fed an average 6kg/day of ration during the finishing phase.

Taking concentrates at £210/t would make a daily feed cost of 126p/kg before silage, vet and fixed costs are factored in.

Spring bulls

There are 30 spring-born bulls on-farm, which are still in the growing phase and eating 5kg/day of concentrate and first cut silage.

Bulls gained 1.2kg/day from weaning until Christmas, with the group averaging 403kg liveweight when weighed.

The plan from February onwards is to step up concentrate feeding by 1kg/head on every month until they reach target slaughter weight of 650kg liveweight by May.

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