Tullamore Farm has endured yet another scorcher of a week and poor grass growth remains the number one concern.
Growth rate is almost half of what it was during the same week last year – 57kg DM/ha was recorded on the farm this week and there are only 11 days grazing ahead of livestock, which will more than likely not be enough as the hot spell is set to continue.
Cows and calves are still running in two separate batches. The grass has run out ahead of one of the groups and the other group is also eating through the cover in front of them. Silage has been introduced to try and give time for farm cover to build up.
With temperatures of 30°C on the farm, sheep have been placed in sheltered paddocks to try and reduce heat stress. As some of the lambs are closely approaching target weights, the decision has been made to wean all lambs and feed meal until slaughter.
The first eight acres of the second-cut silage were taken in this week. It was cut on Tuesday afternoon, picked up and put into the pit on Wednesday evening. First-cut silage was taken from the same ground on 15 May and following this the ground got an application of 2,000 gallons of slurry and 80 units of nitrogen.
A further 50 acres of ground have been left for the remainder of the second-cut, but five acres of this may be needed for grazing.
The first batch of 16 bulls went for slaughter this week, mainly Angus cross, and were an average liveweight of 630kg.
BEEF 2018: in case you missed it
Tullamore farm: silage coming in and bulls ready for slaughter