What a winter that has been. Ground conditions are excellent and grass has grown superbly all winter.
I’m all on for calling March spring, but this March and the last year has tested this classification.
Let’s hope St Patrick’s Day marks a return to good weather!
To say that the Longford/Leitrim/Cavan border is marginal ground conditions is an understatement – it takes longer to dry out after the winter and will turn quick when the weather does. Although, grass does perform excellently in a drought!
€40 for weighing calf and cow is not to be sneezed at
This year has been excellent to get milking cows out after calving.
Some young stock are also out, but the autumn-calved sucklers won’t leave the shed just yet.
They will go to the outfarm 17 miles away, so the option to bring them back in if grass and ground conditions slow down and deteriorate respectively doesn’t exist.
However, it will be a good chance to get Beef Data Genomics Programme (BDGP) tagging and Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) weighing completed.
Suckler cows and calves on James Mimnagh's farm in Co Longford. \ James Mimnagh
I was delighted to sign up to BEEP.
There has been some pessimism about the scheme, but I think it’s a great initiative.
€40 for weighing calf and cow is not to be sneezed at and it is a very useful practice to carry out to assess growth rates and target heifer weights for calving at two years of age.
I will be very surprised if farmers don’t exceed the scheme requirements and record multiple weights.
Schemes are valuable if they encourage best practice. This is what BEEP does.
We might question the vast amount of administration in farming, but with recent schemes, a large amount of thought and consideration along with consultation with relevant bodies goes into the design of such schemes.
Charolais bull
We purchased a Charolais bull recently, but having observed cows not holding to first service and subsequent testing of the bull, infertility was the diagnosis.
He has since been sent to slaughter and has broken even cost-wise when fertility testing, repeat cows and maintenance costs have been included.
We’ve a Simmental bull, purchased 12 months ago, and his first calves are hitting the ground now.
AI and the Simmental bull will be used for cleaning up the remainder of sucklers and for serving dairy cows.
Grazing wild bird covers
It’s approaching that time of the year when cattle are lined up to go to the GLAS wild bird cover crop.
From 15 March, they can enter these parcels to aid the breakdown of the trash.
This is sown in parcels which were not very productive, but since sowing in year one of GLAS, the ground has improved significantly.
Cattle grazing off this crop, I feel, not only aids sowing, but also establishment of the new crop, as the recycled dung and urine are very beneficial for crop establishment.
Read more
Farmer Writes: the unwelcome guest of winter has arrived
Autumn calves weighing-in
Stock weighing starts under BEEP scheme
What a winter that has been. Ground conditions are excellent and grass has grown superbly all winter.
I’m all on for calling March spring, but this March and the last year has tested this classification.
Let’s hope St Patrick’s Day marks a return to good weather!
To say that the Longford/Leitrim/Cavan border is marginal ground conditions is an understatement – it takes longer to dry out after the winter and will turn quick when the weather does. Although, grass does perform excellently in a drought!
€40 for weighing calf and cow is not to be sneezed at
This year has been excellent to get milking cows out after calving.
Some young stock are also out, but the autumn-calved sucklers won’t leave the shed just yet.
They will go to the outfarm 17 miles away, so the option to bring them back in if grass and ground conditions slow down and deteriorate respectively doesn’t exist.
However, it will be a good chance to get Beef Data Genomics Programme (BDGP) tagging and Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) weighing completed.
Suckler cows and calves on James Mimnagh's farm in Co Longford. \ James Mimnagh
I was delighted to sign up to BEEP.
There has been some pessimism about the scheme, but I think it’s a great initiative.
€40 for weighing calf and cow is not to be sneezed at and it is a very useful practice to carry out to assess growth rates and target heifer weights for calving at two years of age.
I will be very surprised if farmers don’t exceed the scheme requirements and record multiple weights.
Schemes are valuable if they encourage best practice. This is what BEEP does.
We might question the vast amount of administration in farming, but with recent schemes, a large amount of thought and consideration along with consultation with relevant bodies goes into the design of such schemes.
Charolais bull
We purchased a Charolais bull recently, but having observed cows not holding to first service and subsequent testing of the bull, infertility was the diagnosis.
He has since been sent to slaughter and has broken even cost-wise when fertility testing, repeat cows and maintenance costs have been included.
We’ve a Simmental bull, purchased 12 months ago, and his first calves are hitting the ground now.
AI and the Simmental bull will be used for cleaning up the remainder of sucklers and for serving dairy cows.
Grazing wild bird covers
It’s approaching that time of the year when cattle are lined up to go to the GLAS wild bird cover crop.
From 15 March, they can enter these parcels to aid the breakdown of the trash.
This is sown in parcels which were not very productive, but since sowing in year one of GLAS, the ground has improved significantly.
Cattle grazing off this crop, I feel, not only aids sowing, but also establishment of the new crop, as the recycled dung and urine are very beneficial for crop establishment.
Read more
Farmer Writes: the unwelcome guest of winter has arrived
Autumn calves weighing-in
Stock weighing starts under BEEP scheme
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