Newford herd continues to contend with the effects of earlier housing with half of the spring 2016-born steers that were targeted for finishing off grass still remaining on the farm. Thirteen of these 20 animals, along with three lighter steers that were housed early in September to prioritise grass supplies for heavier animals, were drafted for slaughter on 12 December.

Slaughter performance was good in this batch, which returned an average carcase weight of 348kg. This included the three lighter Angus steers (born to heifers purchased in-calf) which killed at 300kg, 303kg and 307kg, with the slaughter weight of the remaining animals ranging from 336kg to 378kg. Carcase conformation included nine steers grading R=, five grading R-, one R+ and one O+ while fat cover ranged from 3- to 4- with an average of 3+. The batch killed out at 52% of liveweight.

This leaves 30 steers remaining, with the target to draft as many of these animals before the end of the year. There will be again a wide variation in carcase weight and it is hoped that the remaining steers will hit 330kg liveweight. These animals have been on practically ad-lib meal since the end of November with the aim of conserving silage supplies. Steers are eating 10kg to 11kg of concentrates, offered morning and evening, with a small volume of silage offered as a roughage source.

Farm manager Matthew Murphy says animals have been much more content in recent weeks. He puts this down to a dip in temperatures and clipping the backs of cattle. The latter has also helped to prevent animals sweating which is helping to keep them cleaner.

Valuation of weanlings

Weanlings were also valued in mid-November, with many visitors to the farm enquiring as to the value of progeny from the dairy-cross cows if run in a suckler-to-weanling system. Two independent valuers visited the farm and the information was collated by Michael Fagan, Teagasc, who compiled it by sex and sire, as detailed in table 1. The average value of male progeny, which should be noted were castrated under six months of age, was €850 while the average value of heifers was €784.

All 106 weanlings are being offered ad-lib silage and 2kg concentrates. The level of concentrates will be reviewed in January and may be reduced to 1kg. This will also depend on silage quality and supply.

The average housing date for all weanlings was 10 November. Male weanlings weighed 348kg on average at housing, while heifer weanlings weighed 322kg.

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All reports from the Newford demonstration farm