Beef management notes: slurry, fertiliser and cattle grading

Adam Woods takes a look at some tips and advice for drystock farms in this week's beef management notes.

Adam Woods

5 February 2025

Beef management notes: slurry, fertiliser and cattle grading

Damien Dunne piping slurry at a rate of 3000 gallons per acre for Mervyn and Gavin Hayes at Ballintotty, Nenagh, Co Tipperary. \ Odhran Ducie

Slurry Unfortunately ground conditions have yet to improve on many farms across the country and some are under pressure to move slurry – especially in the northwest, where ground conditions are still very wet. Umbilical systems are extremely busy at the moment, so contact your slurry contractor in time if your slurry tanks are near the top. Where tanks are getting full, try to agitate before it’s too full, as water may have to be added. There is no need to empty tanks on the field beside the yard that is already at a good index for P and K. Just spread enough to let you get by until ground conditions improve and get slurry to areas on the farm that are low in P and K later on in spring. Silage fields should also be top of the list when it comes to spring slurry application. Avoid damaging ground or spreading on waterlogged fields as runoff could lead to a pollution problem. Rain guns and spreading slurry from roadways is prohibited and will attract a cross-compliance penalty.

Slurry

Unfortunately ground conditions have yet to improve on many farms across the country and some are under pressure to move slurry – especially in the northwest, where ground conditions are still very wet. Umbilical systems are extremely busy at the moment, so contact your slurry contractor in time if your slurry tanks are near the top. Where tanks are getting full, try to agitate before it’s too full, as water may have to be added. There is no need to empty tanks on the field beside the yard that is already at a good index for P and K. Just spread enough to let you get by until ground conditions improve and get slurry to areas on the farm that are low in P and K later on in spring. Silage fields should also be top of the list when it comes to spring slurry application. Avoid damaging ground or spreading on waterlogged fields as runoff could lead to a pollution problem. Rain guns and spreading slurry from roadways is prohibited and will attract a cross-compliance penalty.

Fertiliser

While fertiliser is far from many farmers’ thoughts this week, some farms which are dry in nature should start to plan the purchase of fertiliser and have it ready to go once ground conditions improve and weather gets better. Soil temperature around the country has been quite good, but this week’s frost will likely drop them back a bit. The research says that soil temperatures need to be consistently above 5-6ºC to avoid any losses. A good idea is to split your farm into three sections, Heavy covers of grass, medium covers and low covers. Heavy covers are better off grazed and then you can apply a light application of slurry (2000 gallons/acre) after grazing. Medium covers are best suited to fertiliser and light covers are again best suited to receive a slurry application (2000 gallons/acre). On grazing ground, trailing shoe application will avoid too much grass contamination. From 1 January 2025 all farms stocked at 100kg/N/ha or higher need to spread their slurry via a low-emission method. Slurry needs to be watery and thin for these systems to work correctly. In terms of fertiliser type, a ½ bag/acre of protected urea (23 units) is the best rate of application to go out with first. If there are P and K issues, go with a compound on the next application. Avoid spreading if rain is forecast in 48 hours and stick to the driest fields on the farm.

Slaughtering cattle

If slaughtering cattle, make sure to follow up and see them killed in the factory. Grading the cattle yourself for conformation and fat score before slaughter is a good way of getting your eye in and will help better selection in the future. Seeing what a 5- or 2- in fat class is in an animal hanging up can be a good guide for selecting animals at the right stage in the future. Follow up with liver health and lung issues. Animal Health Ireland will issue reports indicating liver and lung damage on slaughtered animals. This is a great way of finding out if your dosing plan has worked or not. If there are issues, discuss with your vet what to change to get an effective dosing programme for your farm.