Unfortunately, as of last weekend all cows are now housed. They had been in and out several times since the middle of August, but in the end my land had just become too wet for heavy stock and even with the good weather at times, the days just seem too short to dry it enough.
A last application of fertiliser was applied just before the deadline so hopefully there should be plenty of grass to keep the weanlings out for another month, although I might house some of my heaviest bulls before then as I want to get them settled and built up on to a high level of meal for finishing.
The silage pit is now open, more than a month earlier than last year
All housed cows have been clipped and treated for lice with a pour-on product. All heifers and second-calvers were also treated for worms.
The annual scour vaccine booster was also given at housing and the salmonella vaccine and mineral boluses were given two weeks earlier.
The silage pit is now open, more than a month earlier than last year, although there is a good bit more in it this year, so it’s pretty much a case of the winter starts here. I weighed my bull calves two weeks ago and at first glance I was slightly disappointed.
They were averaging 1.1kg/day from birth, which is OK but not quite as high as I would like.
But as I looked a little closer at my report, I realised that in the 114 days since the last weighing, they have averaged 1.3kg/day, which I’m happy enough with.
Ration
The heaviest batch of bulls are now on 4kg of ration and good grass and their lighter comrades are eating 3kg.
They seem to be performing well but ground around the feeding troughs is sticky to say the least.
These cattle will be weighed again at housing to be able to ascertain a more accurate level of performance over the finishing period.
I still haven’t decided whether or not to finish all my bulls.
Heifer weanlings have not been weighed yet but for the most part I’m happy with their performance
I still might sell some of my fancier types and finish the plainer ones. I’ll make up my mind in the next few weeks.
Heifer weanlings have not been weighed yet but for the most part I’m happy with their performance.
They are getting 1kg of ration. This will be increased to 2kg at housing in order to maintain performance so that they will be heavy enough for bulling in January.
Farmer Writes: what do we think of the new beef agreement?
Farmer Writes: silage, silage everywhere, but not a bale to feed