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All the slurry was out ahead of the cut-off date of 15 October and the tanks underneath the slats are fully empty. We are just beginning to move in the heavy cattle, that is once they are 500kg to 550kg liveweight, so we should have no difficulty with tank capacity until well past mid-January when slurry spreading is allowed again.
Part of the fallout of the switch from bull beef to dairy beef is the huge reduction in the amount of concentrates fed in the dairy-beef system. This will directly impact both the quantity and the quality of the slurry from a fertiliser point of view, especially the phosphorus content from reduced grain intakes.
We continue to sell the steers as they become fit – this is around 28 months of age
This will in turn influence the calculations on which my total nutrient allowance is based. We continue to sell the steers as they become fit – this is around 28 months of age for both the continentals and the Angus and Hereford dairy crosses.
While I accept it is possible to have them finished at a younger age by feeding more concentrates, I have seen no figures that suggest profitability will be improved as a result so I remain to be convinced that aiming for anything except maximum gain at grass is appropriate. It’s clear from looking around our area that other farmers have come to the same conclusion with practically all land that is suitable for tillage under crops except for the specialist stud farms and the occasional dairy farm. Beef as a major land use has effectively ceased.
The winter barley is up well and the oilseed rape is still growing with the absence of frost
On the tillage side, we almost got all the autumn sowing completed before the rain on Monday. We have a small amount of oats still to sow but apart from that, everything is in reasonable to good condition though we have not rolled the wheat ground. The winter barley is up well and the oilseed rape is still growing with the absence of frost.
We have got herbicide out on all the winter wheat, barley and oilseed rape so we are definitely winding down. We will try to monitor as best we can aphid levels and decide when we need to go out with an aphicide but the threat of resistance is more serious now that Redigo Deter is no longer available, so we will get the best advice we can.
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