Calving got under way on 17 February and we have around two-thirds of the herd calved down at this stage.
Our spring-calving herd has expanded since joining the programme in 2017, and we now have 97 cows calving down, which is the most cows we have ever handled on-farm.
Two years ago we had 75 cows, with around 60 calving in spring. The expansion in cow numbers has come from a combination of retaining additional homebred heifers and moving the autumn-calving cows to the spring herd.
Of the 97 cows to calve down, there were 65 with live calves on the ground by the end of March, which works out at approximately 67% of the herd calved in six weeks.
Cows are calving to a combination of Limousin or Simmental stock bulls, with heifers calving to an Angus stock bull.
Cows have been slowly going out to grass this week. They would have been out earlier, but we had our annual TB test last week. With a fragmented farm, it was far more practical to wait until the test was completed before putting animals out to grass.
Losses
Like all farms operating a suckler herd, there have been a few issues here and there. We had one cow which lost her calf and she is now being fattened.
A second cow that lost her own has successfully fostered a calf from another cow which had a set of twins.
Last autumn, when the cows were scanned, there were 103 confirmed in-calf. However, over the winter period three cows aborted their calf, while another three were culled due to old age.
Smooth calving
That said, while there were a few issues here and there, I’ve had a relatively straightforward calving period, with the vast majority of cows calving unassisted. I have only intervened on a handful of occasions, mostly late at night to make sure the calf is born safely, and on one occasion where a calf was coming out backwards.
Pre-calving management
Cows were wintered on restricted silage from housing until January, as the feed value of forage was good, with a D-Value of 71. From early January, pre-calving minerals were introduced and silage was gradually built up to ad-lib levels.
As cows came into the shed in ideal body condition, the winter feeding programme was mainly geared at maintaining body condition rather than trying to correct it, which has seen a significant saving on forage.
Housing
Dry cows were housed on slats at the main farmyard, before being moved to an out-farm just a short distance away.
We move cows to the out-farm because there is more housing with straw bedding available there, and more calving facilities.
Cows are monitored using cameras, with the last manual check carried out around midnight and the next check around 6am in the morning.
Once calved, cows are moved back to the main yard and housed in our new shed. They are penned on slats to save on bedding, with straw-bedded lie-back areas available in each pen for the calves.
In previous years, I felt replacement heifers were slow to bag up pre-calving and they were lacking in colostrum.
Therefore, this year we changed our approach to feeding these animals during the final month prior to calving.
Replacement heifers are 400kg and ready to go to grass.
Soya was introduced to cows and heifers around three weeks prior to their predicted calving dates, and fed at a rate of approximately 0.5kg/day/head.
As cows were penned in groups based on their calving dates, it was easy to allocate soya to cows coming closest to calving and delay feeding to the cows which were calving later in spring.
So far I think it has been a worthwhile exercise, with a noticeable difference in the quality of colostrum and milk available at calving.
At £310/t, feeding 0.5kg/day for around three weeks prior to calving costs £3.25/head, and is a small price to pay to ensure calves get off to the best start in life.
Young bulls moving onto ad-lib concentrates for finishing
There are 42 bulls on the farm which were born in spring 2018, of which 35 are homebred. The other seven animals were bought-in to fill out the shed. At housing, bulls started off on 4kg/day of concentrates and high-quality silage. Concentrate levels were increased by 1kg every month, with bulls on 8kg during March.
The strongest bulls have now moved onto ad-lib concentrates and silage is being phased out for straw. Bulls have performed well this winter, with an average daily liveweight gain of 1.65kg/day. Current liveweight should be around 550kg, meaning that bulls have another 100kg to gain before reaching their finishing weight of 650kg.
At the outlined slaughter weight, young bulls should achieve a carcase weight of 375kg to 380kg, at 58% kill-out.
Along with the bulls, there is a group of seven beef heifers on the farm which were born in spring 2017 and are not suitable for breeding. These animals have been finished on 5kg/day of a finishing ration and ad-lib silage. The group is in ideal condition for killing and will move off-farm as soon as possible.
Weight gains in the group have plummeted since they started putting on fat, with some animals doing as little as 0.2kg/day. Therefore, there is no economic benefit in holding these animals to try to achieve a heavier carcase weight.
This leaves 24 yearling heifers which will be bred to the Angus stock bull in late May and join the herd next year as replacements. Heifers are currently 400kg liveweight and ahead of their target weight for turnout to grass. They were wintered on first-cut silage and had concentrates front-loaded before Christmas to boost performance. Concentrates have now been cut from their diet to prepare for grazing.
Along with the replacement heifers, there will be a group of 22 yearling heifers which will go to grass, with the aim of finishing them next winter.
Read more
Tops tips for getting grazing on track
Watch: spring calving and grazing under way in Co Derry
Calving got under way on 17 February and we have around two-thirds of the herd calved down at this stage.
Our spring-calving herd has expanded since joining the programme in 2017, and we now have 97 cows calving down, which is the most cows we have ever handled on-farm.
Two years ago we had 75 cows, with around 60 calving in spring. The expansion in cow numbers has come from a combination of retaining additional homebred heifers and moving the autumn-calving cows to the spring herd.
Of the 97 cows to calve down, there were 65 with live calves on the ground by the end of March, which works out at approximately 67% of the herd calved in six weeks.
Cows are calving to a combination of Limousin or Simmental stock bulls, with heifers calving to an Angus stock bull.
Cows have been slowly going out to grass this week. They would have been out earlier, but we had our annual TB test last week. With a fragmented farm, it was far more practical to wait until the test was completed before putting animals out to grass.
Losses
Like all farms operating a suckler herd, there have been a few issues here and there. We had one cow which lost her calf and she is now being fattened.
A second cow that lost her own has successfully fostered a calf from another cow which had a set of twins.
Last autumn, when the cows were scanned, there were 103 confirmed in-calf. However, over the winter period three cows aborted their calf, while another three were culled due to old age.
Smooth calving
That said, while there were a few issues here and there, I’ve had a relatively straightforward calving period, with the vast majority of cows calving unassisted. I have only intervened on a handful of occasions, mostly late at night to make sure the calf is born safely, and on one occasion where a calf was coming out backwards.
Pre-calving management
Cows were wintered on restricted silage from housing until January, as the feed value of forage was good, with a D-Value of 71. From early January, pre-calving minerals were introduced and silage was gradually built up to ad-lib levels.
As cows came into the shed in ideal body condition, the winter feeding programme was mainly geared at maintaining body condition rather than trying to correct it, which has seen a significant saving on forage.
Housing
Dry cows were housed on slats at the main farmyard, before being moved to an out-farm just a short distance away.
We move cows to the out-farm because there is more housing with straw bedding available there, and more calving facilities.
Cows are monitored using cameras, with the last manual check carried out around midnight and the next check around 6am in the morning.
Once calved, cows are moved back to the main yard and housed in our new shed. They are penned on slats to save on bedding, with straw-bedded lie-back areas available in each pen for the calves.
In previous years, I felt replacement heifers were slow to bag up pre-calving and they were lacking in colostrum.
Therefore, this year we changed our approach to feeding these animals during the final month prior to calving.
Replacement heifers are 400kg and ready to go to grass.
Soya was introduced to cows and heifers around three weeks prior to their predicted calving dates, and fed at a rate of approximately 0.5kg/day/head.
As cows were penned in groups based on their calving dates, it was easy to allocate soya to cows coming closest to calving and delay feeding to the cows which were calving later in spring.
So far I think it has been a worthwhile exercise, with a noticeable difference in the quality of colostrum and milk available at calving.
At £310/t, feeding 0.5kg/day for around three weeks prior to calving costs £3.25/head, and is a small price to pay to ensure calves get off to the best start in life.
Young bulls moving onto ad-lib concentrates for finishing
There are 42 bulls on the farm which were born in spring 2018, of which 35 are homebred. The other seven animals were bought-in to fill out the shed. At housing, bulls started off on 4kg/day of concentrates and high-quality silage. Concentrate levels were increased by 1kg every month, with bulls on 8kg during March.
The strongest bulls have now moved onto ad-lib concentrates and silage is being phased out for straw. Bulls have performed well this winter, with an average daily liveweight gain of 1.65kg/day. Current liveweight should be around 550kg, meaning that bulls have another 100kg to gain before reaching their finishing weight of 650kg.
At the outlined slaughter weight, young bulls should achieve a carcase weight of 375kg to 380kg, at 58% kill-out.
Along with the bulls, there is a group of seven beef heifers on the farm which were born in spring 2017 and are not suitable for breeding. These animals have been finished on 5kg/day of a finishing ration and ad-lib silage. The group is in ideal condition for killing and will move off-farm as soon as possible.
Weight gains in the group have plummeted since they started putting on fat, with some animals doing as little as 0.2kg/day. Therefore, there is no economic benefit in holding these animals to try to achieve a heavier carcase weight.
This leaves 24 yearling heifers which will be bred to the Angus stock bull in late May and join the herd next year as replacements. Heifers are currently 400kg liveweight and ahead of their target weight for turnout to grass. They were wintered on first-cut silage and had concentrates front-loaded before Christmas to boost performance. Concentrates have now been cut from their diet to prepare for grazing.
Along with the replacement heifers, there will be a group of 22 yearling heifers which will go to grass, with the aim of finishing them next winter.
Read more
Tops tips for getting grazing on track
Watch: spring calving and grazing under way in Co Derry
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