Eamonn & Donnchadh McCarthy January/February 2025
Breeding
- Spring calving herd
- Selecting bulls with high replacement index for breeding replacements
- Getting maiden heifers out to early grass
- Selecting for Tb resistance
Performance
- Under 16 month bull beef and heifer finishing system
- Drafting animals for finish
- Feeding regime for finishing animals
Animal Health
- Pre calving mineral supplementation
- Viral pneumonia outbreak and treatment
- Developing a vaccination programme for the farm
Breeding
The herd operates a compact calving system in both spring and autumn calving. The herd is calved very compactly with 100% of the cows calved in 6 weeks for both the spring and autumn herds. 100 % of the herd served to ai, heat detection collars are used for identifying cows in heat. The autumn herd commences calving in the last week of July and the herd is calved over 5 to 6 weeks. The spring herd will commence calving on the 12th of February and finish around the 31st of March. Preparations are well underway for the spring calving season. All cows are receiving a precalving mineral on their silage. Heifers that are currently housed in straw bedded sheds will be turned out to grass around the 1st week of February these sheds will be cleaned out and used for housing the spring calving herd. The maiden heifers can be housed again if weather conditions become unfavourable for grazing. Turning these heifers out early will improve live weight gain pre breeding and also because these animals are going out to graze silage ground it should result in higher quality silage Donnchadh works off farm as an AI technician and has a great interest in bull selection.
The bulls to be used for breeding replacements have been selected as follows: AA9860, SI4350, LM6172:
The bulls were selected on the Replacement index, carcass weight, age at finish, calving interval and milk. TB resistance is another factor to examine when selecting bulls for breeding replacements. Charolais sires are used on cows not selected for breeding replacements. Genetic resistance is a measure of an animal’s ability to fight off infection due its genetic makeup. Farmers can use this to breed cattle that are less likey to become TB. Eamon and Donnchadh have taken this into consideration selecting bulls with the lowest breeding value for TB resistance. In order to improve TB resistance herds should aim to use bulls with a PTA (breeding value) of less than 8%. For more rapid improvement, use bulls of less than 6.5%.
Photo 1: Spring calving dry cows
Photo 2: Replacement maiden heifers pre turnout 1st February
Performance
Weanlings are housed and are receiving 70 DMD silage ad lib plus 5kg of concentrates per day. The spring born weanling bulls suffered a set back this winter due to an outbreak of viral pneumonia. Eamonn and Donnchadh never had an issue with viral pneumonia until this year. In consultation with his vet the animals were tested to determine the cause and treated accordingly. In order to prevent an outreak next winter a herd health plan is being drawn up for the farm which will incorporate vaccinating weanlings for against viral pneumonia. The bull weanlings thrive was affected however, they have now improved greatly and it is still planned to finish as many of the animals under 16 months as possible. The bulls were moved to the straw bedded shed and once bulls reach 500kg liveweight they are drafted for finishing over a 90 to 100 day period.
A sample of animals from different age categories were tested for a trace element deficiencies and selenium seems to be showing up as a problem. The dry cows are receiving their pre calver mineral so this should cover the selenium. All other categories of stock received a selenium bolus.
Photo 3: Spring born bulls on straw bedding receiving high DMD silage plus 4kg of ration.
Photo 4: Autumn born suckler calves
Photo 5: Autumn born suckler calves
Financial
Eamon and Donnchadh have applied for a TAMS 3 grant for the construction of a roofed easi feed unit over a newly built slatted tank. The shed will mainly be used for housing weanlings. The shed is awaiting approval under TAMS 3. At the moment prices are being sought for the works. The shed will be sheltered from the prevailing winds and open to the north with the feeding apron sheltered by a canopy. The cattle will be able to feed at both sides with hinged doors over the trough to protect against rain/draughts. Installing rubber mats in the shed is also being considered , however, mats are not covered under TAMS 3.
Figure 1: Roofed easi feed unit applied for under TAMS 3