Iarlaith Collins

Newford Herd, Athenry

We are at the first of the silage here this week with bales being made on the outfarm and pit silage due to be made on the main block before the weekend.

A 3.5-acre paddock has also been taken out with the bales as surplus grass.

Having got a nice bit of rain late last week, growth has improved significantly. We continue to follow the cattle with a half bag of protected urea after every grazing.

The breeding season is in its fifth week and at this stage we have 90 cows artificially inseminated, with 11 repeats.

This year’s calves were weighed on 19 May with bulls averaging 1.58kg/hd/day and heifers doing 1.38kg/hd/day at the moment, which is pleasing to see.

Dwayne Stanley

Thurles, Co Tipperary

Grass growth has dipped below demand this week as we are still in need of rainfall. We did get some over the weekend but there has been a drying wind since and that has taken the good out of it. We are making first-cut silage this week, with 72 acres heading for the pit.

I have three paddocks that are gone too strong for grazing but with no rain forecast I am reluctant to take them out. We probably will cut them as they are heading for 2,000kgDM/ha at the moment so the cattle wouldn’t do a great job of cleaning them out.

We have a batch of Angus and Hereford cross heifers going to the factory this week. They will be 21 to 22 months old and I’d expect a carcase weight around the 270kg to 290kg mark.

Donall Fahy

Grange, Co Meath

Animal performance has been excellent since turnout, with Angus and Holstein Friesian steers achieving an ADG of 1.5kg and 1.4kg, respectively, from a grass-only diet. Our focus is on maintaining grass quality as we go through the reproductive growth phase, targeting pre-grazing yields of 1,400 to 1,600kg DM/ha for yearling steers and 800 to 1,000kg DM/ha for calves, while ensuring we have 12 to 14 days of grass ahead at all times. Removing paddocks as surplus bales is helping maintain quality and animal performance and generating a high-quality feed reserve. First-cut silage was harvested last week. Due to low spring grass demand not all silage paddocks were grazed, un-grazed paddocks yielded 7,280kg DM/ha and grazed paddocks 4,140kg DM/ha.