Aonghusa Fahy July/August 2024
Performance
The 24 weanlings are averaging 270 kgs at 200 days of age. This represents an average daily gain of 1.12kgs since birth. Aonghusa would like this to be 1.2 kgs or higher . The heifers are on target at 256 kgs but he is a little bit disappointed with the bulls. They averaged 276kgs and he would like them to be closer to 300kgs . The ICBF weaning performance report essentially tells if the cows are doing a good job rearing her calf. Looking at the report , the first calvers had a high percentage of the bulls so that could explain why there are slightly behind target.
Photo: On average the weanlings have gained 1.19kgs since birth
In preparation for weaning, Aonghusa has started meal feeding at 1kg/head/day. The weanlings have been forward grazing all year so he uses simple troughs to feed the meal. Initially , the weanlings were slow to eat the meal and it has taken two weeks before they clean out the trough fully. As Aonghusa is not in the business of selling weanlings 1kg is sufficient. At this stage , the cow has her job done in rearing her calf and the performance of the weanling from now on is in the hands of Aonghusa. So the aim is to wean in way that minimises stress and have good quality grass in front of the weanlings for the remainder of the year to maximise live-weight gain.
To ensure that that the weanlings remain healthy , they have been dosed and vaccinated for pneumonia in advance of weaning.
Photo: August 15th Aonghusa has introduced 1kg of meal/head/day
Photo: Simple troughs are used to feed the meal
Photo: All weanlings have been vaccinated prior to weaning
Grassland
Grass growth over July and August has been steady with and average figure of 49kgs/DM/day and with a demand of 42kgs/DM/day , grass growth met with the herd demand. This helped Aonghusa keep control of the grass and he maintained 22 days ahead.
He took out surplus paddocks in early July and this keep the average farm covers on target at between 850kgs-900kgs/DM/ha. This meant that the herd were not eating heavy covers of grass.
Photo: Matching grass growth to the herd demand
Photo: Keeping grass covers right August 15th
Photo: The clover swards are grazed before the cover gets above 10cm
Photo: Fodder secured for winter 2024/2025