Trevor Boland November/December 2023
Performance
- Trevor weighs his autumn born calves at the end of December
- The calves are on 1kg of meal/head/day
- They have access to an adjacent grazing field
Performance
Trevor likes to weigh on a regular which is good practice on any farm. It clearly identifies how the animal is preforming . On the 28 of December he weighed the 28 autumn born bull calves. Their average date of birth is August 30th. The weighing shows and average daily gain of 1.05kgs and they are weighing 172kgs on average.
The group is currently on 1 kg of meal/head/day but he will increase this to 1.5kgs as the calves get holder.
Picture 1: Males calves have gained 1.05kg since birth
Similarly, Trevor weighed the 22 heifers. There average date of birth is August 23rd and they have gained 0.95kgs since birth.
Both the heifers and males calves have access to grazing in a field adjacent to the shed. This offers a much healthier environment than been indoors full time and also reduces the cost of bedding plus the labour attached. Trevor is working full-time off farm.
Picture 2: 18th December 2023. Calves have access to an adjacent field
Pic 18th December 2023
Picture 3: Calves also have access to a bedded creep area and silage
Breeding
Breeding started on October 15th and is going well. By the end of December, 48 are been inseminated and Trevor will scan in early January.
Picture 4: 48 are been inseminated and scanning will take place in January.
Animal Nutrition
Trevor got the results back for his main silage crop. He is happy enough with the result. Feeding an autumn calves cow requires excellent silage in the mid 70’s for DMD. Trevor does not give any meal to the cows during the winter. The sample reported a DMD of 71.6% and a crude protein of 13.8%. It is a good silage and is also dry at 32.2% dry matter.
The mineral analysis highlighted elevated levels of sulphur which could lock up copper. Therefore, a protected copper could be given in the mineral.
