BETTER farm: Silage delay shows as AI begins in Louth

Ciarán Lenehan caught up with Louth BETTER farm beef programme participant Martin O’Hare.

Ciarán Lenehan

25 October 2017

BETTER farm: Silage delay shows as AI begins in Louth

Martin O'Hare and BETTER adviser Tommy Cox on an outfarm talking paddock layout.

Martin O'Hare's farmyard from the sky.

Tommy Cox (BETTER adviser) Martin O'Hare and Hugh Rooney (B&T adviser) pick out suitable heifers for breeding.

BETTER adviser Tommy Cox and Martin O'Hare discuss paddock layouts on the farm

Spring-calvers in early March on Martin O'Hare's farm near Dundalk.

Martin's new water troughs.

Dividing gates.

Martin's new feed barriers.

In Co Louth, Martin O’Hare still has his weanlings at grass, with all other stock in.“My spring-born weanlings are outside at the moment. There are a handful left to wean and it passed without any major problems. I was weaning by taking a couple of cows in from a grazing group at a time. I brought the last 10 calves inside to wean as it was hard to keep them settled with the weather,” Martin said.

In Co Louth, Martin O’Hare still has his weanlings at grass, with all other stock in.

“My spring-born weanlings are outside at the moment. There are a handful left to wean and it passed without any major problems. I was weaning by taking a couple of cows in from a grazing group at a time. I brought the last 10 calves inside to wean as it was hard to keep them settled with the weather,” Martin said.

So far, there have been no health issues as a result of the weaning process. Calves have been vaccinated against respiratory disease (Bovipast and IBR live) at a young age and received a booster prior to weaning.

Today we paid a visit to new BETTER farmer Martin O'Hare from Louth. pic.twitter.com/r3DCrLbhvk
— FJ Beef (@FJBeef) March 6, 2017

“Weaning was OK but unfortunately we lost a weanling in the field a couple of weeks ago. The post-mortem results indicated clostridial disease, so all calves have now been vaccinated (Covexin-10).

“I had vaccinated against blackleg but the vet said the disease was a relation of blackleg.”

Autumn-calving cows are now inside and being bred to AI.

So far, Martin has used SA2153 (Highfield Odhran – Saler), SI2152 (Curaheen Earp – Simmental), SI2469 (Lisnacrann Fifty Cent – Simmental) and ZAG (Castleview Gazelle – Limousin).

Feed

Their calves (23) have access to a creep area and Martin is considering offering a small amount (<0.5kg) of a concentrate to calves.

Animals are at their most feed efficient when they’re young. If offering concentrates to young autumn-born calves, begin with a dedicated calf concentrate – these will be highly palatable feeds and encourage intake. However, they are quite expensive and can be substituted for a simpler ration after five to seven days.

As the animal is consuming large volumes of milk, protein is not critical in these rations.

My autumn sucklers are receiving 77% DMD paddock bales.

“The main 2017 first-cut was delayed by almost three weeks this year. Despite getting it grazed off in the spring, the sample returned 66% DMD.

“I never feed meal to cows here, but would have had to if I had no paddock bales to feed,” Martin said.

Martin has also carried out some adaptions to his bull-finishing shed in recent weeks, replacing drinkers with more sturdy alternatives that can be easily cleaned out and installing some more durable feed barriers and dividing gates (see gallery).