With hooves beginning to hit concrete, the time has come to draw up a menu for the wintering period – what are we feeding and how much of it?
Where weanlings are to return to grass next spring, the guideline is to target a winter growth rate of 0.5kg to 0.7kg daily. This keeps them ticking over, laying down frame and a small amount of lean muscle.
We save money by restricting feed during the winter and achieving high levels of feed-to-beef conversion at grass when costs are much lower.
Questions
But what if we were to feed them on? Would they achieve slaughter targets earlier? Maybe the saving we make during the first winter is lost later on when a longer finishing period is needed.
In 2013, our own livestock specialist Declan Marren carried out a trial to investigate the effects of first winter growth rate on weanling bulls turned out to grass for 100 days and then rehoused for a finishing period.
The aim was to produce an adequately fattened, 400kg carcase.
The trial
Charolais- and Limousin-sired bulls (372kg; seven to eight months of age), purchased from marts around the country in the weeks prior to the trial, were assigned to one of three winter diets:
Grass silage + 2kg of concentrate (GS2).Grass silage + 4kg of concentrate (GS4).Grass silage + 6kg of concentrate (GS6).Grass silage was 70% DMD and offered ad-lib. Concentrate was an 87% rolled barley, 6% soya bean meal and 5% molasses mixture. Following a 120-day winter, all cattle were turned out to grass for 100 days and then housed for an intensive finishing period (ad-lib concentrates).
Effect of winter growth rate on subsequent performance of suckler bulls
Conclusion
Despite the longer finishing period required, compensatory growth at pasture meant that there was no financial benefit gained from feeding extra meal (>2 kg) during the winter. Animals fed on during the first winter achieved weight gains of just 0.87kg daily at pasture.
Reference: Marren, D, McGee, M, Moloney, AP, Kelly, A, O’Riordan, EG, 2013. Effect of growth rate during the first indoor winter on performance to slaughter of late-maturing weaned suckler bred bulls. Agricultural Research Forum. Teagasc. Tullamore, Co Offaly, Ireland, p 34.
Read more
BETTER farm analysis: autumn- versus spring-calving cow
10 options for managing heavy grass covers before winter
With hooves beginning to hit concrete, the time has come to draw up a menu for the wintering period – what are we feeding and how much of it?
Where weanlings are to return to grass next spring, the guideline is to target a winter growth rate of 0.5kg to 0.7kg daily. This keeps them ticking over, laying down frame and a small amount of lean muscle.
We save money by restricting feed during the winter and achieving high levels of feed-to-beef conversion at grass when costs are much lower.
Questions
But what if we were to feed them on? Would they achieve slaughter targets earlier? Maybe the saving we make during the first winter is lost later on when a longer finishing period is needed.
In 2013, our own livestock specialist Declan Marren carried out a trial to investigate the effects of first winter growth rate on weanling bulls turned out to grass for 100 days and then rehoused for a finishing period.
The aim was to produce an adequately fattened, 400kg carcase.
The trial
Charolais- and Limousin-sired bulls (372kg; seven to eight months of age), purchased from marts around the country in the weeks prior to the trial, were assigned to one of three winter diets:
Grass silage + 2kg of concentrate (GS2).Grass silage + 4kg of concentrate (GS4).Grass silage + 6kg of concentrate (GS6).Grass silage was 70% DMD and offered ad-lib. Concentrate was an 87% rolled barley, 6% soya bean meal and 5% molasses mixture. Following a 120-day winter, all cattle were turned out to grass for 100 days and then housed for an intensive finishing period (ad-lib concentrates).
Effect of winter growth rate on subsequent performance of suckler bulls
Conclusion
Despite the longer finishing period required, compensatory growth at pasture meant that there was no financial benefit gained from feeding extra meal (>2 kg) during the winter. Animals fed on during the first winter achieved weight gains of just 0.87kg daily at pasture.
Reference: Marren, D, McGee, M, Moloney, AP, Kelly, A, O’Riordan, EG, 2013. Effect of growth rate during the first indoor winter on performance to slaughter of late-maturing weaned suckler bred bulls. Agricultural Research Forum. Teagasc. Tullamore, Co Offaly, Ireland, p 34.
Read more
BETTER farm analysis: autumn- versus spring-calving cow
10 options for managing heavy grass covers before winter
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