Pat Collins Farm Update

Best practice in dosing  |  Key management tasks  |  Calf purchases  |  Calf purchase price on the Teagasc Green Acres farms

Growth rates have picked up over the past weekend, averaging 92kg DM/ha/day across the three blocks. The wet and cold weather we had experienced before this did result in growth rates dipping somewhat, with just 59kg DM/ha/day recorded in the second last farm walk.

After being unsettled on account of lower dry matter grass for the past month, cattle are beginning to settle much better and clean outs are improving. Up until recently, clean outs had been poorer than desired. To counteract this, I’ve topped some paddocks and have removed six more in the form of surplus bales. By doing this, we won’t have to cut every paddock for surplus bales later in the season to maintain quality grass ahead of stock.

Peak demand on the farm here is expected around June 15th, at which point the majority of calves will be off concentrates and beginning to consume large quantities of grass.  Summer scour in calves is an issue we have faced with calves over previous springs. To counteract that this year, I am weighing calves on a weekly basis. Any calf that is over 120kg will be moved to a grass only diet. There is a little bit of work involved, but it gives the lighter calves an opportunity to develop further before being moved off concentrate. As it stands, calves still being offered concentrate are consuming ~2kg/head/day.

With peak demand expected the middle of this month, all of our grass management decisions have revolved around ensuring the farm is in a strong position in terms of both quality and quantity when this does arrive. All of the grazing ground has received 30 units/ac of nitrogen in the form of protected urea over the past 21 days, bringing the average application to approximately 130 units/ac for the year to date.

First cut silage crops were harvested during the first week of May. And, although yields were light, we are expecting it to produce excellent quality silage. Some of the silage ground is a mixture of red clover and Italian ryegrass and I’m targeting a second cut from this ground in mid-June.