Joe Healy runs 80 Continental suckler cows near Athboy, Co Meath, calving from April to early June. In recent years, Joe has gradually taken over control of the farm from his father John, who ran a dairy enterprise. As a result and much to John’s credit, the farm is excellently laid out from a grazing infrastructure point of view.
“We cut eight acres of silage last week, part of which would’ve been a third cut. The cover was only 2,500kg DM/ha on the fields (13cm to 14cm), so I am expecting excellent quality stuff. Silage quality is one area we are focusing on big-time from now on. My second cut last year was very poor and I need good winter forage for my weanlings,” Joe told me.
“This year things should be much improved on the silage front,” he continued. “We got to make our first cut on 23 May and I am constantly taking bales off the grazing ground – there’s over 160 bales made from paddocks in 2017.”
Joe grazed parts of the silage ground with his heifers and bulls before cutting, with inclement weather conditions preventing a full sweep.
“Heifers and bulls are the only stock I have to graze in the spring and with the bulls at a fairly advanced stage when that time comes, I can’t afford a growth check as I’m trying to hit an age spec (under 16 months). To be honest, I probably won’t go out early with grazing bulls again – the weather is too hit and miss,” said Joe.
That being said, Joe’s bulls have weighed fantastically this year. The 10 animals he has killed so far have averaged just under €1,800/head.
Daily weight gain
“The first six came into the shed at 494kg and were fed for 118 days including 16 days of a buildup. They came into U=, 438kg carcases – which is a daily liveweight gain in excess of 2kg for the complete indoor period,” Joe said. “They have been getting 2.75kg of meal at grass since turnout.”
Calving
Calving 2017 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Joe lost nine calves, via a combination of abortions, animals born dead, deformities, weak calves and freak deaths after a couple of days. Initially, it was feared that a rare strain of bacteria called Streotoccus pluranimalium, last documented in Scotland in 2011 and known to cause sporadic abortions, was the root of Joe’s problem.
However, since we last talked to Joe, a more definitive lab result has indicated the presence of neospora in one of Joe’s cows. She has been culled, along with all but two of the others who lost calves. The remaining pair are rearing three bought-in beef cross dairy calves between them.