Aonghusa Fahy September/October 2023
Grassland
- Mixed ground conditions during September and October
- The weanlings housed earlier than normal in October
- Trying to get heavy covers grazed off
Performance
- Aonghusa weighs the weanlings
- Best Practice at housing
- Smoke bomb test highlights some issues with ventilation in the older slatted shed
- Weanlings getting 2 kgs of meal/head/day
Grassland
With the wet weather, particularly in October, meant getting grass grazed was a challenge – even on a dry farm like Aonghusa’s. Growth rates hovered around 38kgs DM/ha in September but dropped off in October. Demand matched growth rates and Aonghusa maintained 16-20 days ahead.
With the heavy rain in October, Aonghusa housed the weanlings . He felt that they were not thriving on low dry matter grass and would perform better indoors on good quality silage and meal.
He kept the dry cows out to graze off heavy covers of grass. In particular there are 2 clover paddocks and he was anxious to get these grazed off tight. It is good practice to have very little grass on these paddocks over the winter period so that the light can penetrate the base.
Picture 1: Grazing off heavy covers on clover paddocks for the winter
Picture 2: Difficult grazing conditions in October
Picture 3: Some grass that could not be grazed off
Performance
Aonghusa weighed both 2023 born bullocks and heifers on the 31st of October.
Picture 1: 2023 Bullocks
The average weigh of the bullocks was 295kgs on Oct 31st – an average daily gain of 1.10kgs since birth. Since their last weighing in September they put on 0.93kgs/day . The males were on 1kgs of meal/head/day during this period. Animal performance could have been affected by the poor weather and low dry matter grass.
Picture 2: 2023 heifers
The heifers are weighing heavier than their male counterparts at 328kgs on October 31st. Their performance dropped to 0.57kgs since the last weighing in September. This is disappointing and Aonghusa would like that to be closer to 1kg gain per day.
Picture 3: Bullocks housed in October average weight 295kg
Picture 4: 2023 heifers average weight 328kgs
Prior to housing Aonghusa has the weanlings vaccinated and weaned in order to minimise stress. The weanlings are clipped , treated for lice and faecal samples are taken to ascertain if there are any issues around worms and fluke.
The faecal sample highlighted an issue with tapeworm and on the vet’s advice he will dose with an ivermectin in the first week of November.
Aonghusa groups the cattle according to weight- keeping the lightest ones separate to a pen of their own . He will give this group an extra 0.5kgs-1.0 kgs of meal/head/day on top of the 2kgs fed to all weanlings.
Also, there is plenty of lying and feed space. Silage is offered ad-lib and the cattle can feed on both sides of the pen eg 2 sq metres/animal of lying space.
Picture 5: Plenty of fresh clean water is available
The weanlings are a priority group and are housed until Christmas in the new shed which is very well ventilated. The cows are housed in an older slatted shed which has some issues around ventilation. However, the cows are having no problems . At the same time, Aonghusa will remove the sides to allow more air in.
Picture 6: A smoke test highlighted lack of air from the sides
Animal Nutrition
A sample of the second cut silage was taken;
For a second cut silage the results are good. The DMD is 70.4% ; Dry Matter is 38% , the protein is on the low side at 13.6%. The weanlings are getting 2 kgs of meal with this silage which is adequate to reach 0.6kgs gain per day over the winter.
However, he has first cut to sample yet and if this silage is higher in DMD and protein he will feed it to the weanlings instead of the above.