Cathal Irwin September/October update
Grassland
The silage ground was reseeded in late August and with the above average temperatures it has grown very well. It was sprayed off and power harrowed to form the seedbed. 2 tons of lime/acre and FYM was applied . It was then topped up with 2 bags of 10.10.20 /acre. A post emergence spray will be used as there is plenty of chickweed and seedling docks. A clover safe spray will be the option . Ideally, the reseeded ground should be grazed once before the winter- if ground conditions allow the weanlings could be used to graze it.
September has been a very good month weather wise with good ground conditions. Paddocks are getting a tight grazing before closing up for the winter. The wetter parts of the farms were grazed in good conditions in late September. These areas are now closed until spring of next year. 50% of the farm was closed by the end of October. These are the areas that will be grazed first in spring.
Performance
5 heavy bulls have been housed . They weighed 410kgs in mid August. They are on high quality silage plus 3 kgs of meal. It is intended to finish these at 16 months of age (April 2023). Meal will be increased gradually until the bulls go on ad-lib a 100days out from slaughter. A bigger drinking bowl has been installed to ensure the bulls have access to plenty of water. The bulls have been clipped and the booster shot for IBR and RSP has been given also.
The remainder of the weanlings have been weighed ;
Overall the performance is very good with the bulls averaging 1.39kgs/day giving a weight of 325kgs while the heifers are gained 1.19kgs/day . There average weight is 281kgs at 200days.
Silage Sample result
|
|
DMD% |
DM% |
Crude Protein% |
|
1st Cut |
69 |
31.6 |
13 |
While is silage is good and it will be fine for cows but the weanlings will need 2kgs of meal/head/day to ensure that they reach their target of gaining liveweight of 0.6kgs/head/day over the winter period.