First-cut silage was harvested last week, with 53 acres of grass lifted and ensiled in the clamp. After a slow start, grass growth finally took off in May, but yields are lighter than last year.

Grass was mowed on Sunday and Monday. It was then allowed to wilt for 24 hours. We lifted grass using a forage wagon on Monday and Tuesday afternoon and got approximately one load per acre. I would estimate yields as being around 8t/acre.

While yields are lower than I would have liked, grass quality is excellent, partly because silage ground was grazed off before it was closed up in April.

This is the first year we would have done this and there is a noticeable difference in terms of sward quality. Grass was green to the base of the sward with no dead material present. In previous years, there would always be some level of dead grass present and the sward base often had a brown discolouration present.

First-cut silage will mainly be targeted to finishing cattle and weanlings to maintain high levels of performance over the winter.

Cows will be dried off before the start of the winter period, so they will be offered second-cut silage instead.

As a result, we can compromise on silage quality slightly for a bigger crop of second-cut grass. However, I still want silage that is of average to good quality.

Second cut

The same 53 acres that were cut last week are now being closed up for second-cut silage. As cows are out-wintered and a good percentage of cattle are bedded on straw floors, slurry is limited on farm.

I did manage to get slurry spread on 23 acres of silage ground on Friday last, just in time for rain. It was spread at a rate of 2,000 gallon/acre.

However, I have held off on spreading bagged fertiliser until there are showers forecast, as ground is extremely dry at present.

Soil analysis has shown that silage ground is low in P and K. Therefore, to maximise yields, I am applying three bags per acre of 0:20:30 to ground that received no slurry. The ground that did get slurry will get two bags per acre.

Swards will then be topped up with three bags of CAN per acre. Fertiliser prices have eased from earlier this spring, with CAN costing £208/t and 0:20:30 costing £298/t.

Hopefully, second-cut will be harvested in late July which is a growing period of seven to eight weeks. This should give a good bulk of grass to help build fodder reserves.

Kale

Due to limited housing for cattle on farm, I normally outwinter the cows. Last year, they were wintered on kale for the first time from November to late January before housing for calving.

It worked really well, so another 15 acres will be sown out in kale this summer. I am planning to sow 10 acres of an old grass ley in kale by minimum tillage.

Ground will be disced and then sowed in July, with the other five acres sown out before August. Silage bales will be placed in the field shortly after the crop is established.

Surplus grazing boosts winter fodder reserves

Grass growth has been exceptionally strong recently, so I took out nine acres of grazing on Monday of this week as baled silage. I managed to get 41 bales of top-quality silage made from this area, which will also be targeted to finishing stock.

There is another 2.5 acres to take out for silage in the week ahead. It will just depend on the workload in the next week or so.

We are fortunate to have our own equipment for completing silage work, so when the weather is right, we are able to take out paddocks at the first opportunity.

Grazing cattle

Grazing swards are of excellent quality at present and this is helping to maintain cattle performance. Cattle are cleaning out paddocks fully, which is bringing excellent regrowth in the next rotation.

I have 47 store bullocks at grass, born in spring 2017, and they are thriving at present. They were wormed with a noromectin pour-on two weeks ago and also got a mineral bolus to cover them for iodine and selenium, as the farm tends to be low in both elements.

The 2017 spring-born heifers were not bolused, but are getting supplemented for both iodine and selenium by adding mineral tablets to drinking troughs.

I am planning to blood-sample both groups later this year to see if there is any difference to selenium and iodine levels in the cattle from the two differing treatments.

This year’s calves will get their first worm dose in the next fortnight and, again, I will use a pour-on for convenience.

Breeding off to a great start

Breeding started two weeks ago, with 35 cows going to the Limousin stock bull. I am also running 60 cows in two groups for AI and, to date, 47 of these animals have been served, which is a pleasing start to the breeding season. Cows are being inseminated to a range of sires. Any cow that is on the small side or has had a calving issue is getting the Limousin bull ZAG.

Cows that I would like replacements from are getting the Simmental bull AHC, as he is proven on maternal traits, with strong terminal traits also.

The remaining cows are getting the Charolais bull FSZ, who is proven for terminal traits. Cows that repeat will go to the Charolais or Angus stocks bulls.

Cows are being served to natural heats. To help with heat detection, I am using scratch cards which are attached to the back of the cows.

They are low-cost and, if attached correctly, they are a useful aid for picking up cows in heat.

I also have 20 replacement heifers running with an Angus stock bull. The original plan was to AI these animals, but they were slow to come into heat despite showing strong heats earlier this year.

They were also treated with estrumate to try to stimulate breeding activity, but only five animals showed a standing heat.

Therefore, I decided to put them with the bull and, since then, they appear to be breeding perfectly normal, with plenty of mounting activity.