Wesley Browne November/December 2023
Performance
- Wesley weighs the bulls and heifers in November
- The weanlings are now settled and weigh gain is increasing
- Bull management in November and December
Performance
Due to the continuous wet weather in late September , Wesley took the decision to house all stock in October – approximately 1 month earlier than normal. He could see that weanlings were not thriving and weanlings bulls need to be performing in order to be finished at 400kgs carcase at under 16 months of age.
According to Wesley it took the weanlings a month to settle into their winter environment so he weighed all to check on performance.
The 48 bulls were weighed after housing and they averaged 293kgs and had an average daily gain of 1.12kgs. A satisfactory performance but he would like them heavier. The bulls are 20kgs lighter than the bulls last year confirming what Wesley had thought about the weather impacting negatively on performance. The best quality silage was given along with 2 kgs of meal/head/day for a few weeks after housing. Wesley has built up the meal allocation to 5kgs during late November and into December.
The bulls were weighed again on November 25th and the results showed an improved performance. They averaged 333kgs but they gained 1.36kgs/day since the last weighing on October 26th.So the bulls are on an upward trajectory in terms of daily weigh gain.
Picture: Bulls gained 1.36kgs/day since the previous weighing
The heifers were weighed on the 1st of November and they averaged 268kgs giving an average daily gain of 0.98kgs. Wesley would like this the heifers to have an ADG of 1.2kgs/day. Again similar to the bulls, the wet weather had a negative impact on performance.
The heifers are on top quality silage plus 2 kgs of meal/head/day. Both heifers and bull wanlings have been vaccinated for RSV and Wesley gave them an oral dose for stomach and lungworms.
Animal Nutrition
Wesley is very happy with his first cut silage . The DMD is 78.75% with a crude protein of almost 15%. This silage will be used for his growing stock ie weanlings.
Picture 1: First cut silage
The second cut very average with a DMD of 63.4 % and the protein is low at 10.80%. Wesley will feed this to dry suckler cows and will keep their body condition in check. The cows coming in off grass are in excellent condition and he will feed this silage until Christmas and them feed a better quality silage then. He wants the cows “ fit” not too thin and not too fat either.
Picture 2: First cut silage