Shane Keaveney July/August 2023
Grassland
- Red clover harvested for the first time
- Plan to Reseed 4 ha adjacent to the slatted house in August
Performance
- Last of the bulls slaughtered – how have they performed this year ?
- Meal introduced to the weanlings
Grassland
The red clover sown in late April was harvested for the first time in mid July. It was cut dry and left to wilt for 2 days. Shane also lifted the mower 4cm . Slurry was applied immediately using LESS at 2500gals/acre. Shane is hoping to be cutting the crop again in the last week in August.
Picture 1: First harvest yielded 9 bales/acre
Shane also decided to reseed 4 ha of land adjacent to the farmyard. This is old permanent pasture yielding poor tonnage of grass/ha. As the 4ha is adjacent to the yard he will make much more use of it if he could grow more grass and then keep more heifers and cows around the yard for AI.
Shane burnt off the old cover In July and got a window to cultivate it in the first week of August. Slurry and dung was applied to supply N, P & K at apprx 3ton/acre. Shane the seed mix top % grazing and added an extra 1kg of clover.
Picture 2: The grass mix used
Animal Health
In advance of weaning, the weanlings have been vaccinated with Bovipast and the first shot was given at the end of July. The booster will be given 4-6 weeks later . So the weanlings will be fully vaccinated for pneumonia prior to weaning and they will also be covered at housing time-both stressful events for a young weanlings.
Meal will be introduced in the first week of August to help drive daily weight gains and reduce stress at weaning.
Shane has also started to forward graze the weanlings ahead of the cows. This has a number of advantages;
- Weanlings get priority access to fresh pasture which will help increase liveweight gain from grass. At this time of year the cows supply from milk drops and the calves become more dependant on grass
- It allows a more controlled way of feeding meal in troughs vs a creep feeder. All the weanlings get meal. Generally when using a creep feeder only the strong ones will access the feeder and consume the meal. The lighter weanlings than need the meal won’t get access when using a creep feeder.
- Forward creep grazing helps breaks the social bond with their mothers- this will help at weaning
- The cows can be left to clean out the paddock-while the weanling has access to the next paddock
Picture 3: Example of the 2023 weanlings
Performance
The new report from ICBF summaries this years bull performance . The average carcase was 395kgs which is up 25kgs on 2022. Also the grading has improved since 2022 . The grades have gone from R+ to U – and the overall value has increased by €178. Over 20 bulls that is an increase of €3560. The slaughter age has reduced by 1 week also.
