Michael McGuignan July/August 2024
Grassland
- New Red clover silage is harvested for the first time
- Forage Rape is sown
- Getting set up for Autumn
Grassland
The red clover silage was cut on the 18th of August and yielded 8.5bales/acre. Michael is happy with this return as it was the first crop harvested. The crop was cut and wilted for 2 days before baling. Slurry was applied immediately after cutting and Michael aims to get another crop before the end of September.
Date: 17th August, 2024 - the crop yielded 8.5 bales/acre
Michael sowed 6.5 acres of forage rape on August 15th. The ground was sprayed off and received one run of the rotovator followed by the land leveller. The ground has a pH of 6.7 so no lime was required and he applied 3 bags of 18.6.12/acre. Michael will graze the crop with the weanlings over the winter period.
Photo: 17th August 2024- forage rape is sown
At the beginning of July, grass was tight on the farm with growth rates below average for the time of year at 38kgs/DM/ha. With demand of the herd averaging 50kgs/DM/ha , Michael had just 14 days of grass ahead . Michael was confident with 14days and growth did increase over the next few weeks. With growth rates outpacing demand, days increased to 28 at the end of August which was right on track. Average farm cover at just under 1000kgs/DM/ha at the end of August is ideal heading into the Autumn. Michael can also reduce demand by selling dry cows and there are heavy bullocks also fit to sell.
Photo: There are 28 days of grass ahead at the end of August
Photo: 17th August - Michael can reduce grass demand by selling some cattle
Performance
Michael weighed the weanlings in both July and August. The bulls are performing very well averaging over 1.4kg/day since the previous weigh dates. They averaged 356kgs on August 15th. This represents a gain of 1.22kgs since birth.
Photo: The bulls gained 1.39kg/day between July and August
The heifers averaged 301kgs on August 16th and they gained 0.65kgs since their previous weighing in July. Michael would like this to be higher. He will wean and introduce 1kg of meal and give this group of heifers the best quality grass on the farm.
Photo: The heifers averaged 301kg on the 18th August 2024
Michael has separated the bulls and heifers and used the quiet wean nose pads to minimise the stress at weaning. The pads allow the calf to stay with the cow but it cannot suckle. He left the pads on for 6 days before removing and then fully separated the weanlings away from the cows. Michael has found this to be less stressful on both mother and its calf and all is weaned outdoors.
Photo: Michael uses the nose pads to wean the calves
Photo: The pads allows contact but the calf cannot suckle
Photo: The bull weanlings are getting 2kgs of meal/head/day