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The dairy-bred heifers went to grass weighing about 300kg, and are due to be prepared for artificial insemination any day now. This field was trampled a bit in the late autumn, and has only partially recovered, to the extent that 1 May was the earliest date that underfoot conditions would carry a tractor and fertiliser sower. There is a small bank of grass ahead of them, but grass growth has been incredibly slow.
The dairy-bred heifers were released from winter captivity on 23 April, followed by the heavy store bullocks on 26 April. After five months of general inactivity in their slatted pens, turnout is something of a joyous affair for the cattle, and a huge relief for me.
The dairy-bred heifers were released from winter captivity on 23 April, followed by the heavy store bullocks on 26 April. After five months of general inactivity in their slatted pens, turnout is something of a joyous affair for the cattle, and a huge relief for me.
There’s more to it than just the dawning of a new season, and the anticipated lift in animal performance. For me, it signifies the end of a long, dull, arduous winter, but more importantly, it sees cattle returned to a more natural environment.
Concrete slats were a wonderfully efficient invention; cattle come off them as clean as a whistle, they are easily fed and looked after on a daily basis, yet I just don’t feel entirely comfortable with the whole concept. When we examine the shift within the poultry industry from caged hens, to enriched caged environments, and finally to 100% non-caged, you must wonder how concrete slats have managed to avoid adverse publicity from the concerned urbanites that now seem to control our world.
The heifers put on more weight than the strong stores, courtesy of the meal bag. I knew they had to be kept motoring, so they were fed 1.8kg of a 16% crude protein blend, while the bullocks next door to them were restricted to just 1kg.
With average-quality silage being fed ad-lib, the steers responded in kind by putting on very little weight. Daily liveweight gain was an unimpressive 0.3kg, and, with the benefit of hindsight, I should have fed a bit more.
Nevertheless, I have been in this position before, and compensatory growth can be spectacular. I know that the experts tell me to aim for 0.7kg in the house with these Charolais steers, but to achieve three-quarters of a kilo every day would mean feeding at least 3kg of meal and turning out cattle that (in my opinion) are far too ‘warm’.
I think I’d prefer to turn out proper stores and keep the meal for their finishing period. Or, even better, hope for a perfect grass year, and use almost no concentrate.
Plan
The original plan was to turn the lighter heifers out in early April, and the big cattle any time after that, if ground conditions were reasonable. Obviously, this wasn’t feasible in 2018 and, in fact, the above dates would not have been possible without a lot of extra meal being fed to milking ewes.
I sort of fell between two stools and had to compromise between letting the sheep and lambs graze some fields that were earmarked for cattle, while keeping them out of others.
Speaking with my shepherd’s hat on, this was about a thousand times easier said than done, and I found it painful to see sheep pushing their heads through the bars of a gate while stretching to nibble at green grass waving in the breeze, just beyond their reach.
I would love to have opened the gate and let them gorge themselves on fresh pasture.
Decision
The decision to graze one or two cattle fields was necessary, and although it made sheep management a bit easier, there has been a real downside. Not only does tight grazing with sheep greatly slow the recovery of grass swards, the puddling effect of their feet creates two big drawbacks.
Firstly, it seems to take about 10 days for the sward just to recover and think about growing, and secondly, this slight poaching seems to prevent natural surface drainage, which has resulted in delayed fertiliser applications.
The difference in field trafficability between ungrazed fields and those with no grass covers is stark, and I now seem to own 20 or 30 acres of hideously wet land that previously was considered reasonably dry.
Challenging
There are tentative signs that we have turned the corner from this most challenging spring, although this farm has a considerable distance to travel before we’re out of the woods altogether. When you are walking up the yard in the mornings, clad in boiler suit, hat and coat and you have to scrape the frost off the car windscreen, then you can rest assured that grass growth hasn’t exploded just yet.
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