Trevor Boland July/August 2024
Performance
- Calving started on July 27th and 32 calved by August 22nd
- No major issues at calving
- 17 yearling bulls are sold off farm and Trevor houses 8
Performance
The autumn calving herd had its first arrival on July 27th and calving has gone well for Trevor. Some heifers needed assistance calving and one cow had a calf born dead. However, there was two sets of twins . 32 have calved in the first four weeks and there is 18 left to calve.
Trevor keeps the heifers indoors at the point of calving. These are the group that might need some assistance and he also can observe them on the calving camera. Generally all of the cows are calves outdoors which is a huge labour saving for Trevor as he is working full-time off farm.
Photos: Heifers are kept indoors for a few days but let out to grass post calving
Photo: 22nd August 2024 - alive and well, Trevor has two sets of twins
Trevor sells the yearling bulls to a repeat customer direct off-farm. 17 have been sold to date . There are 8 left and they have been housed. Bulls at this age are better off inside from a safety point of view and they will perform better in a stable environment. Trevor will feed the bulls for another couple of weeks. In addition , housing the bulls will reduce the demand for grass.
Photo: 32 cows have calves in four weeks
Photo: 17 yearlings bulls have been sold off farm
Grassland
Similar to most farms grass growth has been variable throughout July and August. Growth rates ranged from 34kgs/DM/ha to 122kgs/DM/ha. Trevor has reduced the herd demand by selling the bulls and meal feeding the dairy/beef heifers but grass still remains tight on farm. The average farm cover is just under 500kgsDM/ha.
Photo: Grass growth has been variable over July and August on the main grazing block
Photo: 22nd August, the new reseed will soon be back in rotation.
Breeding
Trevor will start breeding in October so it is essentially that cows are in good condition. Trevor uses AI and this year he will use sexed semen on 20 cows to guarantee high value replacement heifers. With a herd size of 50 cows , he needs between 10-12 replacement heifers annually. Using sexed on 20 cows should deliver this amount. In addition, he can use terminal bulls on the remaining 30 cows which will push the output of the farm.
Trevor has chosen 2 bulls for sexed semen; the LM bull Drumline S and a simmental bull , Leeherd Lynx
Photo: Drumline S
Photo: 22nd August 2024