There was a marked improvement in weather conditions last week, which led to ground conditions improving significantly for a number of the programme farms. As a result, some of the farmers took the opportunity to start filtering lighter cattle back to grass.

The number of cattle going back to grass varies depending on the farm and land type. Bigger numbers of cattle are now grazing where there is access to drier land.

On heavier ground, it is mainly smaller numbers of lighter yearling heifers that will be bred this summer which have been put out to grass first.

As heifers have a target weight to reach before breeding starts in June, they are a high-priority group for grazing.

They are followed by autumn-born calves and yearling bullocks which will be finished next winter.

Spring-calving cows are slower to return to grass at the moment, as they have a bigger grazing demand compared with store cattle.

Where cattle are going out to grass, they should ideally have meal levels cut from their diet before turnout.

On Fionbharr Hamill’s farm, featured below, store cattle have been on a silage-only diet since early February in preparation for grazing.

This ensures cattle are going out to grass in a lean, fit condition and they will be less likely to lose weight during the period of dietary transition.

As a result, these cattle should benefit from a period of compensatory growth during the spring grazing period.

Week in review

  • Cattle have been turned out to grass on a number of farms.
  • Replacement heifers and lighter stores are getting priority grazing.
  • Fertiliser is being applied to grazing ground based on soil analysis.
  • Farmer focus: Fionbharr Hamill, Downpatrick, Co Down

    Store cattle out to grass

    Drier weather last week has helped to improve ground conditions on farm and, as such, we took the opportunity to get some cattle out to grass on Thursday last (8 March).

    I also spread half a bag/acre of urea on 45 acres of grazing ground early last week to try to kickstart grass growth.

    We put 45 store bullocks, mostly born in spring 2017, out to grass on an outfarm. They are grazing in one group on a good block of drier land which also has plenty of shelter on it.

    On the same day as the bullocks were turned out, we also put all our heifers back to grass. Like the bullocks, the heifers were predominantly born in spring 2017.

    But there is a handful of store bullocks and heifers carried over from a small number of autumn cows which have now been moved to the spring herd.

    Heifers

    While the bullocks are all in one group, the heifers are running in two groups for management reasons.

    The first group out to grass consisted of 23 Charolais-bred heifers which will all be fattened next autumn to early winter.

    The second group has 31 heifers in it and I am hoping to get as many as possible of these animals bred for replacements.

    The group is a mix of homebred heifers, some bred from AI and some bought-in heifers. I have been buying in beef-sired calves from a dairy herd for a couple of years now and rearing them for breeding.

    Breeding

    My cow herd is predominantly Angus-bred and by using Angus stock bulls on Angus cows, it is starting to negatively affect carcase weight and conformation.

    Therefore, I am trying to get more cross-breeding into the herd to increase hybrid vigour in breeding animals and improve both carcase weight and grades. I have been using more AI in the past couple of years, choosing Simmental and Blue sires. This year, I am planning to serve replacement heifers to AI and a select group of cows.

    Hopefully, the first cross-heifers from the dairy herd will also bring something different to my cow type, as well as improving milk production.

    Along with the AI, I still have Charolais, Limousin and Angus stock bulls to cover the cows.

    Calving

    Spring calving has been going reasonably well. To date, I have 29 cows and heifers calved, with 27 cows and 27 live calves on the ground.

    I lost two calves at calving. One cow will be culled, while the other cow had a calf put to her and has accepted it.

    Calved cows are being grazed on an older paddock which has plenty of shelter. Silage is also being fed as a buffer until they are moved to better grazing. In total, I have 91 cows and heifers calving down this spring.

    Evaluating carcase data

    One of the reasons for using AI and buying in heifers has been to move away from having so much Angus breeding in the cow herd.

    I now have a number of Belgian Blue, Simmental and Limousin cows and heifers coming into the herd, which I think will improve carcase weights and grades.

    The Angus cattle are killed through the premium breed scheme with ABP, but I am not getting the full benefit of the bonus payment because carcases are not hitting the desired specification. I have a number of carcases going overfat, mostly because they are being fed too long in an effort to improve carcase weight.

    Analysis

    I killed 12 Angus bullocks from late November to early January. The cattle averaged between 20 and 21 months of age at slaughter.

    The group had an average carcase weight of 332.8kg, with a carcase gain from birth to slaughter of 0.53kg/day. However, the cattle were mostly grading at fat class R4-, which means I was losing at least 8p/kg of the bonus payment, making them less profitable.

    Charolais

    There were also 16 Charolais-sired bullocks slaughtered during February and March at an average age of 23 months.

    The group averaged 400.9kg carcase weight and gained 0.57kg of carcase from birth to slaughter.

    Conformation was typically R=4-, so there is scope to improve carcase value by having more cattle kill at fat class 3.

    As a result, these cattle are leaving more money compared with the Angus-bred cattle on farm due to carcase weight and conformation.

    By using herd sires with stronger terminal traits on my Angus-cross cows, there will hopefully be more cattle achieving U grades in future.