John Milligan,
Castlewellan, Co Down
We put the two stock bulls out with the cows last week to start the breeding season for the spring-calving herd. Calving runs from March to May. Calving earlier does not suit us on the farm as we are lambing ewes at a similar time and grass growth is well short of demand.
Spring calving started on 28 March and everything went well. We had 57 cows and heifers calving this spring and at least 80% of the herd calved inside six weeks. The whole spring herd was calved in 58 days, or a little over eight weeks.
There is no denying that it was a hectic period as there are 250 ewes lambing alongside the cows. But we were able to get cows and calves out to grass shortly after calving which eased labour and reduced the risk of disease.
Although it was busy, having all the cows calved in such a tight spell makes management easier for the rest of the year. Calves have been vaccinated for blackleg and other clostridial diseases and they can all be wormed together. Calves should be reasonably consistent in size which means they can be weaned and grouped together going into the autumn.
Our stock bulls are a Limousin bred from LIMO Tanat and a Simmental bull bred from Curraheen Vio. The Limousin bull has a lot of daughters in the herd now but there are still plenty of cows he can serve. His heifers are strong on milk and growth.
The Simmental bull is serving the younger cows and, hopefully, the hybrid vigour from crossbreeding will further improve maternal and carcase traits in the herd, without getting into big cows.
The herd is young as we culled hard for three years, bringing in 20 homebred heifers last year and 15 heifers the year before. They calved at 24 months and have gone back in calf with little trouble.
This year, we have kept 10 heifers for breeding. There are plenty of surplus heifers that are suitable for breeding, which will hopefully be sold as replacements. We will do a few budgets and see if heifers not suitable for breeding are better sold live or finished off grass.
Heifers averaged 380kg on 1 March and are due a mid-season weight check soon. They should weigh around 450kg, so that they are well developed for breeding. They are being inseminated to an Angus bull, although we are considering using a Hereford as an alternative.
The Angus bonus may be coming under pressure, so the Hereford premium may be an alternative to add value to heifer calves. Surplus heifers will be close to 550kg to 560kg in the autumn and capable of finishing off grass. The good thing is, we have options.
The steers went to grass in mid-March and have been thriving well. They are averaging around 480kg liveweight. We will do some budgets in September to see if they are worth finishing or offloading live.
Autumn bulls have been weaned and are grazing paddocks close to home. Normally, I would not be weaning autumn calves until mid-summer. But the autumn herd has been moving forward in calving date from November/December to September/October.
Again, this gives us a chance to get the cow and calf out to grass for a period. This reduces disease and cost as the cow does not require meal until housing. There are 13 autumn bulls and they will most likely be housed in September and finished by Christmas.
They will be grazed on high quality grass until then to get as much cheap liveweight gain as possible. I would like the bulls to be weighing between 500kg and 550kg before housing. They have been wormed and were easy to wean as calves were forward creep grazing all spring.
We harvested silage on the home farm in the last week of May. Silage was mowed and got a short wilt before harvesting. It was ensiled dry, which will help quality. This is the earliest we have cut silage and is a direct result of the strong growth this spring, improved grass swards and improved soil fertility.
We made 50 bales from six acres of red clover, which will be fed to store cattle. Last week, we cut 30 acres of first cut on the out farm. Ground conditions were okay after the heavy rainfall two weeks ago. The second cut will be closed up shortly after the headlands are grazed off. We will probably bale the second cut and go for an early harvesting date cut, so that we can build grass for autumn grazing.
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