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John Pringle July/August 2024

Breeding


The breeding season has gone well in Wicklow, there were two bulls on the farm, the mature Simmental bull was in with 34 cows and heifers, and all were scanned in calf, with four sets of twins.

The younger Limousin bull, was put with 25 cows and heifers and has 21 in calf. The four not in calf were heifers and not a complete surprise

The aim for the LM was to add shape to the cows while not taking away from the milk in the overall herd. With finishing bulls, you need U+ grade animals to maximise payments. He is also easy calving on the heifers, so this will reduce work load in the spring.  He is five star on docility, this is hugely important as I will be keeping replacements from him.

Overall a 93% conception rate, so I am happy with that. Plus the twins, if all survive they will make up for the four not in calf.

The plan now is to wean the claves in the next few week, keep condition on the cows as silage is tight and put the cows/heifers not in calf in with the finishing bunch and have them gone before housing.   

Galbally Timmy 1788

Replacement Index € Terminal Index € Calving difficulty (cows) Calving difficulty (heifers) Carcass Conformation Daughter milk (kg) Daughter Calving interval (days)
164 140 2.1 6.2 28.4 2.44 6.7 1.83

Picture: New Limousin bull

Dermotstown Lionheart 

Replacement Index € Terminal Index € Calving difficulty (cows) Calving difficulty (heifers) Carcass Conformation Daughter milk (kg) Daughter Calving interval (days)
118 84 3.1 7.0 27.7 1.46

10.50

-0.17

Performance


It has been a difficult year with grass, the summer has been very dry, which doesn’t suit my farm. I know it is a lot different from others in the programme where rain has caused issue for grazing and grass growth. I put a spade in the ground last week to see what the moisture in the soil was like, and it was very dry, but at least the cattle are content.

I weighted last week also, before introducing the creep feeder.  I want to keep the calves performing, so I want them eating creep before weaning. I was happy with the weights, the average is good but some calves of heifers and twin calves are light, so I may have to castrate the bulls as they are not heavy enough for the under 16 month bull system. With the concentrate going in, they might compensate, we will weigh again and decide at housing. 

When weighing, I gave them their first shot of Bovipast when weighing them, they will get the second shot four weeks after along with a live IBR vaccine into the muscle.

I faecal sampled them also and the test came back with 300 strongyles (stomach worms), so I went in with a white dose to get the stomach and lung worm. I have had no real coughing this year, so lung worm hasn’t been an issue. I do mix graze the cows and calves with the ewes and lambs so that helps to reduce the worm burden.

I will follow up with an ivermectin about a month pre housing, it has a persistency of four weeks, this will clean out their lungs, allow any damage to heal and get them ready for housing.

Picture: Cows and calves relaxing in the sun on Pringles

Picture: Simmental bull calf - 347kg (1.62kg ADG)

Picture: Nice simmental heifer - 315kg (1.48kg ADG)

 

Grassland


Grass has been tight all year. I put out 20 units of pro urea per acre on and the second half of the 18-20-0, so 10 units of P per acre, everywhere is green, I just need some more moisture for growth to kick off.

The ram will be going in with the ewes in October, so they are my priority group, they have to have grass for the next 8 weeks to achieve a good scan. This year I have reduced the mature ewe numbers, but will be putting the ewe lambs in with the rams for the first time in ten years. This is to reduce demand over the winter, I won’t have 75 empty hoggets’ running around.

The calves will be weaned and the cows tightened up, on the positive side, ground conditions are very dry, so if it does rain and grass grows, I will be able to graze well into the autumn, as long as I close enough for the spring. It’s hard to imagine planning the autumn closing planner already

I do have turnips sown and they are growing well, but I sowed a catch crop of rape and stubble turnip and it is a disaster. I usually run the ewes on it for November and December, closing up all the grass for the spring, but this year it hasn’t worked. Last year was not great either, so I may have to change next year and just sown all turnips in June.

Red Clover

I have 8 acres of red clover sown for silage and it has performed well in the dry conditions. So far I have had three cuts giving me 15 bales per acre and I am hoping to maybe get another cut as I am so tight on silage. I will them cover it in farmyard manure and leave it for the winter. The fist cut should come off it again in April. 

Picture: 5.4 acres of turnips with silage bales at the top for sheep

Picture: Catch crop sown in early August

Picture: Red clover silage - cut four weeks ago