Michael Biggins July/August 2023
Breeding
- The AI option has worked well but final judgement held until scanning later
- The 2 Ch bulls are removed from the cows on July 1st
Performance
- The 2023 weanlings are weighed
- Forward Creep Grazing working well again this year
- Meal introduced to the calves
- Faecal Sampled the yearlings and in calf heifers– no incidence of worms
Grassland
The second cut silage was closed on June 23rd . Approximately 7.5ha was given 3 bags of cut-sward/acre. There are currently 400 bales in the yard including 100 left over from last year. Another 50 bales will be sufficient fodder for this winter.
Picture 1: 2nd cut silage on 10th July. Crop was closed on June 23rd.
During July and August grass growth stayed ahead of demand. Average growth over the summer months was 54kgsDM/ha and with demand at 29kgs/DM/ha this led to surplus grass which was removed as surplus bales. 20 units of Protected urea was applied per acre in late July . The average farm cover was 1030/kgs/DM/ha giving plenty of grass leading into the autumn period.
Breeding
Michael called an end to the breeding season on July 1st. The 2 CH bulls were removed from the 2 group of cows. These will be scanned towards the end of August or early September . Normally, Michael rang a third easy calving bull with the heifers but this year he used AI on them. This has worked well . 15 heifers were AI’d and 5 repeated and they received a second straw.
The older fiston bull was culled as there were issues with lameness. During this period , Michael used AI as an insurance policy on 10 of of the cows that came into heat when the bull was lame.
This change has eliminated the need to purchase a third bull but also using AI has given Michael a range of bulls to choose from.
High maternal bulls like the Saler bull Knottown Roy was used. He is 5 star with a replacement value of €238. The carcass weight is + 20kg , daughter milk 8.5kgs and is easy calving. The Lm bull Ivor was also used . He has a replacement value of €168. Together with the 15 heifers, 10 cows were AI’d. All bulls used were maternal. Michael needs 10-12 replacement heifers annually. So, using AI of 25 should yield a sufficent number of heifers.
Animal Health
Picture 2 : The dung sample from the yearlings and in-calf heifers showed no evidence of lungworms
The weanlings received their first shot for IBR and Bovipast in August.
Animal Performance
The weanlings are grazing ahead of the cows which gives them the best grass while restricting the cows to clean out the paddock. Meal feeding at 1 kg/head/day started in late July. As Michael is selling weanlings , he needs the calves to be as heavy as possible in Oct/Nov.
The weanling bulls will be separated from the heifers in early August . Once the bull calves reach 280kgs they will be weaned off the cow and be given good quality grass plus meal.
The bulls were weighed on July 8th and the average weight was 174kgs. The ADG was 1kg/head/day and Michael would like this to be 1.2kgs/day. There was 15 calves from heifers this year and this could be reducing the overall average weight.
Picture 3: Performance of the heifers to date
Picture 4: 2023 born calves
Picture 5: Dry cows being culled for various reasons and will be sold live