It’s been a super two weeks of grass growth on Tullamore Farm. The farm recorded another strong growth figure of 51kg DM/ha/day over the past seven days.

Our grass demand is running at 29kg DM/ha/day, so as long as growth continues above 30kg, we will be building days ahead.

Tullamore Farm has seen super grass growth in the past two weeks

The current days ahead figure is 38 days of grass ahead of the stock on the farm.

The farm is currently stocked at 1,447kg liveweight/ha.

The target was to have 30 days ahead by 1 September, so we are ahead of target.

Spreading

The last round of nitrogen was spread this week on some grazed paddocks, with the only fertiliser left to spread being muriate of potash.

This will be spread on some of the paddocks that are very low in potassium.

We will wait until these paddocks are closed to spread the potash, given the history of tetany issues on the farm.

While there are some heavy covers, grass quality is good and utilisation has been excellent over the past few dry days.

Farm manager Shaun Diver said: “We are making the cows clean out paddocks and calves are being forced to graze ahead.

"Cows are in really good condition, so can afford to be grazed a little harder in the coming weeks. We have licks in all paddocks where cows are to prevent tetany.”

Weaning

Weaning has started, with cull cows and empty cows being first on the list for weaning.

These cows were pulled out of the main groups on Friday and housed on hay for the weekend to help dry them up.

Calves remained with the main groups and will continue to be meal fed.

These calves have got a booster vaccination for pneumonia and also dosed for worms this week in advance of weaning.

The rest of the weaning will take place in coming weeks on a phased basis.

Bull calves are currently on 1kg/day, with most calves eating, while heifer calves are on 0.5kg/day.

Cows which have been weaned this week are in good condition and will start meal feeding at grass next week with a view to having everything slaughtered before housing.

Lambs

A further 28 lambs were sold this week, leaving just 30 lambs left from the 2019 crop.

Average carcase weight for this week's lambs was 20.69kg and average price was €99.43.

The remaining lambs are currently being creep fed on good-quality swards and will be drafted in the next four weeks.

Shaun said: “We have started to flush the main ewe flock this week. Replacement ewes will get their Enzovax and Toxovax vaccinations this week.

"In a change to last year’s protocol, the mature ewes that haven't been vaccinated will be vaccinated this year for enzootic abortion.

"All going well, there should be 242 ewes/hoggets/ewe lambs going to the ram in 2019 on Tullamore Farm."