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James Skehan September/October 2024

Performance

Performance

  • Finishing 2023 born steers
  • Liveweight’s from 2024 born steers and heifers
  • Store bullocks intended for finishing
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Grassland

Grassland

  • Last of the grazing completed by November 1st
  • Red clover silage field performance
  • Soil testing
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Animal Health

Animal Health

  • Dosing programme for weanlings
  • Dealing with rumen fluke in finishing animals
  • Faecal egg testing and selecting a dosing product
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Performance


There is a group of continental bullocks being finished on the farm and they are currently being fed 8 kg’s of finishing meal along with red clover silage. James intends to have these drafted for slaughter prior to Christmas. These are the first group of 2023 born bullocks currently being finished and have an average liveweight of 605 kg’s when weighed recently.

There is a second group of 2023 born continental bullocks on the farm with an average liveweight of 525 kilograms. They were again recently weighed and James picked out steers that were 550 kg’s or heavier and put just started them on a finishing diet of meal and red clover silage. The remaining lighter steers will be fed a diet of silage and 3 kg’s of meal and will be switched to a finishing diet when they reach 550 kg’s liveweight.

The 2024 born weanling were housed recently on the farm. James castrates the steers with rubber rings at a few days of age and is very happy with the outcome. This practice of castrating from a young age will continue in the future on the farm. They currently are on a diet of grass silage along with 2 kg’s/concentrates per day. The steers were weighed on the 6th October and averaged 285 kilograms each. The 2024 born heifers were also recently housed on the farm and weighed on average 240 kilograms when weighed recently. Similarly to the 2024 born steers, they are also on a diet of 2 kilograms of concentrates as well as grass silage.Photo 1: 2024 born steers and heifers recently housed

Grassland


The grazing season for 2024 will finish up on James’ farm this week when the dry cows and replacement heifers will be housed for the winter. James reseeded 2.4 hectares in red clover silage in May of 2023. To date in 2024 the field was baled three times and yielded a total of 99 bales. James will take a light cut of bales off this field in the next few days. This is to avoid carrying a heavy cover of grass over the winter months. Heavy covers of grass can hamper the survivability of clover in a sword. Grazing the field isn’t a great option for James, but is option instead of baling in order to have a light cover of grass going into the winter period.

There has been a high off take of nutrients from this field in 2024 with three cuts of silage to date and a fourth cut to be baled later this week. Red clover performs well when phosphorous, potassium and pH levels are maintained at optimism levels. A soil test was last completed in this red clover silage field two years ago. To maintain good fertility, James will complete a soil test in this field shortly and address any soil fertility issues should they arise. This field last got a fertiliser application in August, so three months from then should pose the perfect opportunity for soil testing.

Photo 2: Red clover silage field will be baled for a fourth time over the next few days 

Animal Health


2024 born weanlings received two rounds of Bovalto Respi 3 which is a vaccine to help prevent respiratory diseases in cattle. They were also injected with Dectomax prior to housing. James initial understood Dectomax covered for mature liver fluke, but on closer inspection learned it doesn’t cover for mature liver fluke. Word of caution is to read the product label and understand fully what the product covers in terms on internal or external parasites prior to dosing.

Rumen and liver fluke is an issue on the farm for all categories of stock. To establish if fluke is an issue in weanlings James will complete a faecal egg test and select a dose to treat internal parasites once he gets back results from this test. The group of finishing bullocks which James intends to have finished prior to Christmas, received an oral dose of Zanil. This treats for mature liver and rumen. The finishing animals will be faecal egg tested this week to insure no other internal parasites are an issue with them. The remaining cattle currently at grass will be faecal egg tested and dosed according to results over the next few weeks.

Photo 3: Finishing steers currently on 8kg's/meal per day and were treated with Zanil