JP Hammersley Farm Update September 2021

Meal feeding commenced for 40 of the most forward 2020-born steers in mid-August at a rate of 4kg/head/day. The plan is to move these off farm in early November, after consuming approximately 340kg/head of concentrate.

Location: Lattin, Co. Tipperary
System: 22 and 28-month Friesian steers
Soil type: Free-draining
Stocking rate: 2.28LU/ha
Net margin: €265/ha

These animals were an average weight of 520kg in early July. If the desired levels of performance are achieved between now and slaughter, I hope they will reach an average carcass weight of 320kg at 22 months.

This carcass weight may be subject to a slight degree of variability, as the level of carcass fatness will be the primary indicator of when drafting occurs.

A short, indoor feeding period may be required for a small portion of these animals. This, however, will depend largely on ground conditions during the month of October and the availability of grass on the farm.

The remaining 29 steers will be stored over the winter on excellent quality silage and carried to beef off grass next June at 28 months.

Grassland management

A growth rate of 71kg DM/ha/day over the last week has really helped build covers here, pushing the average farm cover to 1,057kg DM/ha.

I’m very much in the autumn mindset of grassland management as I’m grazing 18ac of reseeds currently. The rain last week made things a little bit tricky, but I overcame that by allocating fresh grass every 24 hours and moving stocking frequently.

Animal type	Weight	Grass intake	Meal intake
Finishing steers	600kg	8kg	4kg
Store steers	500kg	10.6kg	0kg
Calves	220kg	3.4kg	1kg

The rotation length has also been extended to 35 days across the farm. However, I will graze some of the reseeded paddocks sooner than this to promote tillering and to thicken the sward.

Concentrate feeding has also been re-introduced to all of this year’s calves at a rate of 1kg/head/day and this will be maintained up until housing. With finishing stock and calves being supplemented, this brings the demand down to 32kg DM/ha/day.

Partners


Munster Bovine	MSD Animal Health	Drummonds

Volac	Corteva Agriscience	Liffey Mills

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