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Breeding started on 15 June, with stock bulls being turned out to 105 cows and heifers, so we are just over halfway through the mating season.
Breeding numbers are up slightly on last year, when 99 cows and replacement heifers were put to the bull. This year, our breeding numbers break down into 80 cows and 25 maiden heifers, born in spring 2018.
AI
Cows started off in three batches for breeding. The first batch consisted of 29 animals that were running separately so they could be bred to AI. I left them in paddocks next to the home yard so they could be easily brought in and out for insemination.
Cows were served to natural heats, as they were being observed at multiple stages throughout the day. I decided to AI my cows to take the pressure off the stock bulls and to get replacements from some of the best milking cows in the herd.
Sire choice
Cows were inseminated to the Simmental bull Lisnacrann Fifty Cent and the Shorthorn bull Hussar of Upsall. I used Hussar last year on a group of 10 cows and his calves are excellent, so I had every confidence to use this sire on more cows this summer.
After one month of inseminating cows, 21 animals were served. At this point, I decided to run the eight cows which were not inseminated with the stock bulls.
The reason for this was I had other tasks to complete on-farm as well a family holiday, which meant heat detection would be impeded.
Natural service
The cows that were not selected for AI have been running in two equal-sized groups with an Angus and a Limousin stock bull from 15 June.
There was plenty of breeding activity early on, but things have started to tail off over the past week. Along with the eight cows that were not inseminated, I have split the 21 cows served to AI between the two bulls to catch any repeats.
While this means there are currently 40 cows per bull, the majority of these animals should be settled in-calf. Therefore, the stock bulls will not be under too much pressure.
Replacements
The 25 replacement heifers are all homebred animals and will calve down at 24 months. These animals are being covered by a young Angus bull. His first progeny were born this year and calves hit the ground with little difficulty.
Scanning
I am planning to run the bulls with the cows until September as a safety net for any animals that repeat during August.
Scanning will be carried out in late September. I want all cows to calve down from mid-March to May, as this suits turnout on the farm. Any cow scanning outside of the desired calving date will be sold.
Priority grazing
While bulls will remain with cows into September, I am planning to separate cows and calves into bulls and heifers in late August.
This will coincide with a worm drench and the first pneumonia vaccine shot for calves. First-calving heifers will also be separated out and get priority grazing.
These calves will then be introduced to creep-feeding to maintain performance as milk production in first-calved heifers will tail off in autumn.
Monitoring the performance of bullocks at grass
There are 49 store bullocks on-farm, born last spring. They are grazing as one group on an outfarm. With strong grass growth this year, grazing as a larger group has helped to keep grass under control during earlier parts of the year.
However, I have had to take surplus grass out for silage to maintain sward quality, with more silage being removed from the block this week.
Weights
The bullocks were last weighed on 13 June and they averaged 447kg liveweight. These animals were gradually turned out to grass in late February, starting off with six bullocks.
Wet weather in March meant they were rehoused for a short period before going back to grass from 23 March to 9 April, as weather and grass permitted.
From turnout to 13 June, the bullocks have gained 1.09kg/day from a grass-only diet. Assuming they have gained an average of 1kg/day since mid-June, they should be in the region of 490kg by the start of this week.
Breed type
Breaking the bullocks down into breed type, the animals bred from the mature Angus bull that is currently running with the cows averaged 489kg on 13 June. The bullocks bred from the Limousin bull averaged 442kg. The animals bred from the young Angus bull averaged 412kg, although these animals are bred from heifers.
To be fair, the heifers could have been supplemented earlier last autumn to maintain milk production and weight gain in calves. This is something that will be changed this autumn.
Grass finishing
My plan over the next week is to draft out the heaviest bullocks from this group and run separately. At this point, I will introduce concentrates to these animals in order to kill them off grass.
The heaviest Angus bullocks should be in the region of 520kg to 540kg, which means they are on track to be 600kg by October. At 55% kill-out, they should produce a 330kg carcase with very little input costs.
The remaining animals will be finished out of the shed between December and January.
What a difference a year makes. Last July, drought severely curtailed grass growth and I was potentially looking at a fodder shortage.
This year the farm has an abundance of grass. First-cut silage was harvested on 16 May, with 50ac ensiled.
The silage was sampled and the feed analysis is 44.5% DM, 14.3% protein, 11.7 ME and 73% D-Value.
The same 50ac were harvested as a second cut on 6 July. Both cuts yielded well and the pits are filled to capacity.
In addition to this, there are 202 silage bales made from the grazing block. I have further bales to make this week, as well as 17ac of a third cut to harvest from out-lying fields less suited to grazing.
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