Derrypatrick Farm Notes Week of September 10th

General Details

• Bull calves were castrated on Monday August 27th
• Calves were injected for roundworms and lungworms on Monday August 27th
• Cows got Salmonella vaccination on September 6th
• Calves got pre-weaning booster shots for respiratory diseases

Breeding

• A pregnancy scan is scheduled for September 20^th
• Calves were weighed on September 6^th
• Yearlings were weighed on September 3^rd
• Calves are currently receiving 1 kg per head concentrates through creep feeders
• Steers/heifers are currently receiving 2 kg per head per day concentrates

Animal performance  

Grass

• Farm was walked on Monday and average farm cover was approximately 850 kg DM/ha
• The farm currently has 13 days grass available
• Days ahead are low as we have second-cut silage area still closed
• We will consider housing options of finishing cattle over the next few weeks in accordance with our grass availability and herd demand
• Second-cut silage is planned to be cut next week
• A sample was tested for sugars and nitrates this week
• Sugars were 3% and nitrates were below 250ppm
• One bag of CAN/acre (27.5 units of N fertiliser) is being spread following each grazing

Grassland management

The details below are for the full Derrypatrick farm:

 Reseeding

• 7 hectares of land (4 paddocks) were reseeded on Monday September 10th
• The variety chosen for reseeding these paddocks is Oakpark, a late heading diploid variety
• Two of the four paddocks had 1.5 kg/acre of Chieftain and 1.5 kg/acre of Aberherald included in the mix

Weekly planner

• Do weekly grass covers and monitor re-growths closely
• Spread CAN after each grazing
• Cut second cut silage
• Pregnancy scan will take place on September20^th