Attention now turns to winter management on Tullamore Farm with all cattle either housed or put to kale for winter months.

Angus and Hereford-cross dairy heifer calves were moved to kale on Tuesday 21 November.

Fifty cows have been on kale since 27 October.

The kale crop which was sown on 10 June has yielded 11t/DM/ha. The sowing rate was 2.2kg/ac and the variety sown was Maris Kestrel. The pH of the land in Tullamore is high at 6.9. Therefore, no lime was required.

Four bags of 10:10:20 per acre at sowing and top dressed with two bags per acre of CAN on 5 July. Cows are consuming 9kgDM/day so we have enough kale until the second week in January when they will move back indoors in preparation for calving.

They also have access to silage bales while on the kale. Sixty dairy cross heifer calves were put out to kale last week and will continue to graze from the opposite side until mid-February when they will be turned back out to grass.

They are being allocated 4kgDM of kale per day along with silage bales.

These calves weighed 218kg on 21 November and are 20kg behind where they need to be. They have gained 0.7kg day since birth. The plan is to try and turn these heifers out as early as possible to try and make up the lost ground.

The fence is being moved daily for both groups and grazing conditions are holding up well. Cows seem really happy and content and the good leaf-to-stem ration means utilisation rates are excellent.

Grazing comes to an end

The last of the cattle came off the grazing ground on Tuesday 21 November. Sheep will continue to graze up until mid-December which will mean closing cover for the farm will be around 600kg/DM/ha.

With growth ranging from 0kg to 5kg/DM/ha over winter months, this should mean the farm will have an opening cover in mid-February of 750kg to 800kg/DM/ha which would should be ok to carry stock through to when grass growth starts to kick in in mid-March.

Sheep will be housed in straw-bedded sheds until lambing in late March. Grazing conditions are just ok with water lying on a couple of paddocks after Tuesday night’s rain.

Winter diets

Bull weanlings are being fed 4kg of a 15% protein ration with 31% rolled barley, 20% maize meal, 17% soya bean meal, 25% soya hulls and 5% molasses and 2% minerals.

Heifer weanlings are being fed 2kg of the same mix. All weanlings are being fed the best quality 78% DMD silage that is available on the farm.

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