All eyes have been on Tullamore Farm this week, with many viewers tuning in to see the busy lambing and calving season.
The Irish Farmers Journal livestock team have been busy all week on Tullamore Farm, taking over the popular twitter page @irelandsfarmers, where the team has been broadcasting the various tasks involved in the day-to-day running of the farm.
The livestock team, including Aiden Brennan, Adam Woods, Declan Marren, Darren Carty and sustainability specialist Siobhan Walsh, have all featured in this week’s takeover coverage.
They have discussed many topics, from genetics to sustainability, grassland management, rearing of calves and much more.
Good morning from a fresh spring morning in Co.Cavan. My name is Adam Woods, beef editor with the Irish Farmers Journal. Niamh is on the road to Tipperary this morning so we decided I would take you on the rounds of our farm here in Cavan.Let us know where your tuning in from. ?? pic.twitter.com/IioY0xYrrJ
— IrelandsFarmers (@IrelandsFarmers) April 11, 2022
Grass cover
The grass cover this week is 842kg DM/ha, which has decreased by 80kg DM/ha from last week’s grass cover. The average growth rate per day remains lower than expected at 23kg.
One of Ireland’s big strengths is that we can grow a lot of grass and we really try and get as much live-weight gain from grass as possible on Tullamore farm.Cattle are grazed in paddocks and get fresh grass every 3 days.We have clover in all our paddocks to reduce chemical N app pic.twitter.com/xKyX5HozKq
— IrelandsFarmers (@IrelandsFarmers) April 13, 2022
Farm manager Shaun Diver comments: "I am not surprised that the grass cover has decreased for another week. Almost all stock is out at grass, meaning there is a constant demand for fresh grass. At the moment, there is a higher demand/ha of 25kg compared to the growth/ha on the farm of 23kg."
As weather remains good for another week, Shaun has been given another opportunity to spread more fertiliser. This week, three bags of Cut Sward fertiliser was spread per acre to all silage ground on the farm. Sixty acres have been closed up for first-cut silage, about 30% of the grass area on the farm.
Lambing
Almost all ewes and lambs have been turned out to grass this week, with just 25 hoggets left to lamb on the farm.
Good morning all!! This lady just popped out this Suffolk lamb she has another on the way so we’ll be back to see her in a while!! We’ll run through the sheep system today and make sure ask plenty questions pic.twitter.com/bPKl15yuUW
— IrelandsFarmers (@IrelandsFarmers) April 15, 2022
Shaun says: "There has been a lot going on this week. On Monday, we cleaned up all the individual sheep pens and removed them from the sheds.
Later in the week, we brought in all the ewes and gave them a magnesium bolus as a preventative measure for grass tetany."
Calving
Similar to previous weeks, calving is slow, with just 14 cows left to calve. Shaun is predicting a number of cows will calve this weekend.
Shaun comments: "We dehorned more calves this week and gave a magnesium bolus to cows that were being turned out.
"Cows and February-born calves were brought in today, with all cows being vaccinated for BVD and lepto. The February-born calves that were brought in were vaccinated against clostridial disease.
"This week, we have also checked the heat detection collars and tags to ensure they are working correctly before breeding in the next two weeks.’’
Cows and February born calves where brought in today.. calves vaccinated against clostridial diseases or "black leg" a colourful bunch!! pic.twitter.com/OrlQCNXHBP
— IrelandsFarmers (@IrelandsFarmers) April 14, 2022
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