Plenty of rain over the past three weeks has helped drive on grass growth, with a strong figure of 50kg/DM/ha/day recorded last week. Demand is currently steady at 30kg/DM/ha/day, and with all silage fields back into the grazing rotation, building days ahead shouldn’t be an issue over the next three weeks. There are currently 28 days ahead of stock and the target is to get to 30 days by 1 September.
One bag of nitrogen/acre is going out at the weekend across a number of paddocks in a bid to further build grass cover. Average farm cover is currently at 825 kg/DM/ha. A bag of muriate of potash will also be spread on some Index II paddocks in October, to try and build soil fertility to Index III levels.
Winter
Farm manager Shaun Diver is currently weighing up the options for wintering animals. Sheep won’t be housed until close to Christmas, so the only issue with housing on the farm is finding place for 43 weanling heifers. Heifers were wintered on kale and rape for the past two years, however with all the farm reseeded, it’s not an option this year.
Stock on Tullamore Farm ahead of the farm walk \ Phill Doyle
Renting a shed close by and providing fodder, renting a shed far away and paying for feed, or purchasing a forage crop and grazing in-situ – are the options being weighed up.
While the erection of a shed on Tullamore Farm has been looked at, it was felt by the management team that the business is not in a position to borrow more funds to build a shed
Given their performance, the preference would be to find a field of kale/rape that is available to rent. While the erection of a shed on Tullamore Farm has been looked at, it was felt by the management team that the business is not in a position to borrow more funds to build a shed.
Scanning
Scanning of cows and heifers took place last week. Heifers scanned well, however synchronising didn’t work, with a conception rate of just over 30% being achieved to fixed-time AI. Heifers were in good condition, had received a bolus for minerals and all vaccinations were up to date, so it’s hard to explain what the reason was. The overall pregnancy rate was 87.5%, with five heifers out of 40 not in calf after just under 10 weeks breeding.
We will buy in some in-calf heifers in their place over the winter months
It was a similar story with the cows, with 11 empty out of 77. The decision was taken to stick with the 10-week breeding window to try and pull our mean calving date back from mid-March to late February/early March. It means the later-calving cows are finding it harder to go back in calf within the target window. The empty cows have been separated and will start meal-feeding at grass, along with calves to be weaned early and slaughtered. We will buy in some in-calf heifers in their place over the winter months.
Weanling performance review
Weanling performance is a key driver of profitability on beef farms no matter what the system employed. The heavier the weight you can wean off the cow, the more profitable your beef system will be. There are a number of important points in a beef system to drive weanling weight. These include:
Genetics: High terminal index genetics are important for achieving good weaning weights. A calf will inherit 50% of its genetics from the dam and 50% from the sire. A good carcase weight figure is important. On Tullamore Farm the focus has been on high replacement index genetics in the cows and AI sires used, while also achieving a balance with terminal genetics. Milk: Milk is a key driver of weaning weight, and cows that are poor in terms of milk yield will have calves with lower weaning weights. Cow type on Tullamore Farm is focused around dams with good milking ability. The herd was established in 2017 with a large number of first-cross Limousin dairy cows. Since then more heifers have been kept as replacements from within the herd, meaning the herd is moving towards second- and third-cross dams. The focus is still on milk and fertility and maintaining it in the herd.Tables 1 and 2 outline weanling performance in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Table 4 outlines the weaning weight in 2018 expressed as a proportion of cow weight at weaning time. This is a new report that ICBF launched last year and is a good measure of cow efficiency on your farm. It is also easy to see what cows are not paying for their keep, weaning very light calves and also to select cows that are doing a good job to keep replacements from. Tullamore herd average is weaning 49% of cow weight, which is 7% above the industry target of 42%.
Sheep management
Ewes have been checked this week for feet, teeth, body condition and udders, and 21 cull ewes have been pulled out – mainly for teeth and udder issues. Thirty ewes were drafted that were a little behind (BCS 2-2.5) in terms of body condition score, so these are being grazed on aftergrass along with ewe lambs for finishing. The main ewe flock is following the group of finishing ram lambs. Ram lambs are currently being fed 0.5kg/head/day of a finishing lamb nut, costing €282/t.
It has been decided to increase ewe numbers up to 250 ewes for 2020, so 40 Mule hoggets were purchased last week at €170 each
Lambs continue to be drafted, with a further 31 lambs drafted last week at an average carcase weight of 20.67kg, costing €99.54. It has been decided to increase ewe numbers up to 250 ewes for 2020, so 40 Mule hoggets were purchased last week at €170 each. Thirty ewe lambs have also been retained for breeding, and a further 20-30 hoggets will be purchased over the next month. Purchased hoggets are currently going through their quarantine period.
Plenty of rain over the past three weeks has helped drive on grass growth, with a strong figure of 50kg/DM/ha/day recorded last week. Demand is currently steady at 30kg/DM/ha/day, and with all silage fields back into the grazing rotation, building days ahead shouldn’t be an issue over the next three weeks. There are currently 28 days ahead of stock and the target is to get to 30 days by 1 September.
One bag of nitrogen/acre is going out at the weekend across a number of paddocks in a bid to further build grass cover. Average farm cover is currently at 825 kg/DM/ha. A bag of muriate of potash will also be spread on some Index II paddocks in October, to try and build soil fertility to Index III levels.
Winter
Farm manager Shaun Diver is currently weighing up the options for wintering animals. Sheep won’t be housed until close to Christmas, so the only issue with housing on the farm is finding place for 43 weanling heifers. Heifers were wintered on kale and rape for the past two years, however with all the farm reseeded, it’s not an option this year.
Stock on Tullamore Farm ahead of the farm walk \ Phill Doyle
Renting a shed close by and providing fodder, renting a shed far away and paying for feed, or purchasing a forage crop and grazing in-situ – are the options being weighed up.
While the erection of a shed on Tullamore Farm has been looked at, it was felt by the management team that the business is not in a position to borrow more funds to build a shed
Given their performance, the preference would be to find a field of kale/rape that is available to rent. While the erection of a shed on Tullamore Farm has been looked at, it was felt by the management team that the business is not in a position to borrow more funds to build a shed.
Scanning
Scanning of cows and heifers took place last week. Heifers scanned well, however synchronising didn’t work, with a conception rate of just over 30% being achieved to fixed-time AI. Heifers were in good condition, had received a bolus for minerals and all vaccinations were up to date, so it’s hard to explain what the reason was. The overall pregnancy rate was 87.5%, with five heifers out of 40 not in calf after just under 10 weeks breeding.
We will buy in some in-calf heifers in their place over the winter months
It was a similar story with the cows, with 11 empty out of 77. The decision was taken to stick with the 10-week breeding window to try and pull our mean calving date back from mid-March to late February/early March. It means the later-calving cows are finding it harder to go back in calf within the target window. The empty cows have been separated and will start meal-feeding at grass, along with calves to be weaned early and slaughtered. We will buy in some in-calf heifers in their place over the winter months.
Weanling performance review
Weanling performance is a key driver of profitability on beef farms no matter what the system employed. The heavier the weight you can wean off the cow, the more profitable your beef system will be. There are a number of important points in a beef system to drive weanling weight. These include:
Genetics: High terminal index genetics are important for achieving good weaning weights. A calf will inherit 50% of its genetics from the dam and 50% from the sire. A good carcase weight figure is important. On Tullamore Farm the focus has been on high replacement index genetics in the cows and AI sires used, while also achieving a balance with terminal genetics. Milk: Milk is a key driver of weaning weight, and cows that are poor in terms of milk yield will have calves with lower weaning weights. Cow type on Tullamore Farm is focused around dams with good milking ability. The herd was established in 2017 with a large number of first-cross Limousin dairy cows. Since then more heifers have been kept as replacements from within the herd, meaning the herd is moving towards second- and third-cross dams. The focus is still on milk and fertility and maintaining it in the herd.Tables 1 and 2 outline weanling performance in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Table 4 outlines the weaning weight in 2018 expressed as a proportion of cow weight at weaning time. This is a new report that ICBF launched last year and is a good measure of cow efficiency on your farm. It is also easy to see what cows are not paying for their keep, weaning very light calves and also to select cows that are doing a good job to keep replacements from. Tullamore herd average is weaning 49% of cow weight, which is 7% above the industry target of 42%.
Sheep management
Ewes have been checked this week for feet, teeth, body condition and udders, and 21 cull ewes have been pulled out – mainly for teeth and udder issues. Thirty ewes were drafted that were a little behind (BCS 2-2.5) in terms of body condition score, so these are being grazed on aftergrass along with ewe lambs for finishing. The main ewe flock is following the group of finishing ram lambs. Ram lambs are currently being fed 0.5kg/head/day of a finishing lamb nut, costing €282/t.
It has been decided to increase ewe numbers up to 250 ewes for 2020, so 40 Mule hoggets were purchased last week at €170 each
Lambs continue to be drafted, with a further 31 lambs drafted last week at an average carcase weight of 20.67kg, costing €99.54. It has been decided to increase ewe numbers up to 250 ewes for 2020, so 40 Mule hoggets were purchased last week at €170 each. Thirty ewe lambs have also been retained for breeding, and a further 20-30 hoggets will be purchased over the next month. Purchased hoggets are currently going through their quarantine period.
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