Kay O'Sullivan July/August Update 2024
Latest updates
- Breeding season has now ended
- Only 4 repeats over 6 weeks
- Kay will scan at the end of August
Weights & finishing performance
- Latest weights on store cattle
- Factory results from finished bullocks
- Finished heifer details
Breeding
Breeding is now finished on Kay’s farm. Four heifers and 20 cows were bred from 3rd June to 12th July which amounted to just under 6 weeks of a breeding season. Four cows repeated and were served a second time but no cows were served for a third time. Kay will scan the herd at the end of August and cull any cows that are not in calf.
Figure 1: Cows and calves grazing a multi species sward
Animal Nutrition
Kay requires 650 bales of silage for the coming winter, which includes a buffer. She has over 300 bales made from first and some of her second cut, with a further 160 to be made before the end of August. She also expects to yield a further 100 bales from the third cut of red clover silage and will continue to take out surplus paddocks as silage until mid-August. The red clover was spread with 2500 gallons of cattle slurry/acre on 13th July.
Figure 2: Red clover crop is growing well
Kay’s other fodder supply for the winter includes redstart which was sown on 2nd July. It received 2500 gallons of slurry/acre at the end of April and was disk harrowed at the end of June. It received a further 3000 gallons of slurry/acre at sowing time as well. The finishing cattle will graze the redstart over the winter and the weanlings will finish it off in early spring before it starts flowering.
Figure 3: Redstart crop on 30th July
Performance
The store cattle were weighed on 11th July. The heifer weighed 450kg and gained 1.46 kg/day since 13th April. The 11 bullocks averaged 471 kg and gained 1.13 kg/day since 13th April on average. They ranged in weight from406 to 583kg. They are grazing the multi species swards full time.
Figure 4: Bullock #246 averaged 432kg on 11th July
Two heifers and 2 bullocks were finished on 17th July. The heifers averaged 307kg carcass weight and graded R=4=, making €1765/head at 25.9 months.
The bullocks averaged 287kg at 15.7 months of age and graded O+3+ on average. They made and average price of €1599. They averaged 552kg live weight on 11th July.