Grass growth over the past week was 52kg DM/ha, which is good for September on this farm, and it is helping to maintain an abundance of grass in front of cattle.

Unsettled weather in mid-August reduced grass covers, but we have had a great response to fertilizer applied lately, resulting in 30 to 40 grazing days ahead at present (weather permitting).

I have had a batch of 34 cows and calves along with a stock bull grazing a 30-acre block close to the yard since turnout.

To manage grass quality, a total of 17 acres of this area has been closed up for baling at one stage or another throughout the summer.

It yielded 94 bales of good silage, which will come in useful this winter. The grazing area is sub-divided into eight paddocks using temporary electric fencing and, on occasions, has been further subdivided when grass covers have become too strong for cattle.

It has been dressed with 4.5 bags/acre of 25:5:5 to date. In my experience, this is the best way to manage cattle at grass. It gives more flexibility during a good summer like we had this year and also when grazing conditions become more difficult.

On rented land, the grass swards are less productive and access to water is not as easily managed as it is on the home farm, but rotational grazing has still worked well.

Even getting the grazing blocks divided into five or six paddocks has been a huge help in ensuring cattle always have access to the best quality grass possible.

This year has helped to build up a good surplus of winter feed. Plenty of progress has been made on grazing management over the past few years, but it is a long-term project and there is still lots of room for improvement.

Stock bulls were removed from the main batches of cows in mid-August. Scanning is booked to take place on 22 September.

Excellent grazing conditions have left cows well-fleshed and I would expect the average calving date to be earlier next spring. From mid-July onwards, I have not noticed much heat activity.

A group of 25 Simmental and Limousin cross replacement heifers have been mated to a Hereford bull.

As well as providing the obvious benefits of an early-maturing breed to the cow herd as replacements, if the present bonuses on traditional breeds continue to be available, male calves should also make a good contribution.

These heifers have a weight of 450kg to 490kg. If housed at 500kg to 530kg, they should calve down next April at 580kg to 600kg. Before joining the programme, the bulk of replacement heifers were calved between 30 and 36 months old.

Calving all replacements at 24 months has worked well, to date. The benefits are many, such as being able to carry one less group of stock on the farm and improving the lifetime output of cows.

But one of the greatest benefits on this farm is that it has helped to maintain a defined calving pattern, which when calving at ages from 30 to 36 months was not possible. 

The main focus over the next six weeks is getting the weaning process started and ensuring the transition period from grazing to housing results in minimal setback of calf performance.

Calves were last wormed in mid-August and will be wormed again in late September, which should cover them until housing. 

Calves are vaccinated for protection against IBR, PI3, RSV and pasteurella. At housing, stock groups (cows and calves) that were grazing separately all summer will be sharing the same air space in the shed. This is the period when IBR has been, and can be, an issue.

I also have a calf-to-beef finishing enterprise in the same yard, so the risks of infection are high. Pneumonia in weanlings in the past caused calf performance to stall and had significant treatment costs. Severe cases never fully recovered, leaving a negative margin in finishing. 

On the home farm, where grass quality is good, calves have not been receiving any meal yet.

I am aiming to remove cows from this batch over the next few weeks and leave the calves in the paddocks, at which point meal will be introduced in troughs.

However, on rented ground, where grass quality is not as good and gradually weaning or forward-grazing calves is not practical, I have introduced creep feeders. This is helping maintain calf performance and will have calves well accustomed to meal before weaning.  

At scanning, cows not in-calf will be weaned immediately and finished.