Future Beef Newsletter October 2024
Michael & Niall Biggins
Ruairi Cummins - Farm Update | Wesley Browne - Farm Update | Top Tips for October | Dates for your Diary | Deadlines for October | Beef Edge Podcast
Top Tips for October
Dates for your Diary
Friday, November 1, 2024
Winter housing farm walk on Ruairi Cummins’ farm, Rossenarra, Kilmoganny, Co. Kilkenny, R95 F638 at 11.00am.
Deadlines for October
October 14: Deadline to submit fertiliser closing stocks on AgFood.ie.
October 31: Last date for applying farmyard manure (FYM).
November 1: All weights for the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) must be entered online, both for the cow and calf.
Farm Profile - Michael & Niall Biggins
Michael & Niall Biggins
Michael and his wife Bridie work in partnership with their son Niall on the farm in Ballynalty, Headford, Co. Mayo. Michael works full-time on the farm.
They are farming 45ha of owned land in 3 separate land blocks within a 2km distance of the home block. The area is mostly limestone and the farm has predominately dry mineral soils with a significant area of heavier peaty soils. One block of land has very shallow soil with the rock near the surface. This area suffers in very dry summers, but the peaty heavy soil area benefits in dry summers.
Michael & Niall run a suckling to weanling/yearling system consisting of 68 spring calving suckler cows. They used to have a split autumn and spring calving system but are now a full spring calving system. The best calves are sold as weanlings in the autumn. The remaining bulls and heifers are sold as yearlings.
The farm is fairly well paddocked with up to 30 main divisions on the farm with scope to split fields further with temporary fencing. Having plenty of well-placed water troughs is key to allowing paddocks to be split on the farm.
Farm Update - Michael & Niall Biggins
The creep gate is homemade and makes weaning much easier on the Biggins’ farm.
Michael and Niall have been busy weaning their suckler cows over the last few weeks.
However, planning for weaning started back in July when the homemade creep gate was placed with the herd. This allows the calves to forward creep graze ahead of the cows all year. They have access to the best quality grass and their bond is not as tight.
In June, the herd is split. The bull weanlings and their mothers go to one area, and the heifer weanlings and their mothers go to another part of the farm. This ensures the heifers are not put in calf.
The creep feeder was introduced to the calves in July. When Michael and Niall were happy that the weanlings were eating ration, they removed the creep feeder and started feeding them in troughs, which was possible through the use of the creep gate. This means all the calves are getting concentrates, not just the stronger ones that get in first. They were gradually built up to 2-2.5kg pre weaning.
Before weaning, all weanlings were dosed and vaccinated against respiratory disease, firstly with an RSV, Pi3, and Mannheimia haemolytica vaccination, which must be given in two shots, four weeks apart. Secondly, they received an infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) vaccine, which also consisted of a two-shot programme.
Michael and Niall have a repeat customer that typically buys the bull weanlings in autumn. This buyer really values that they are properly weaned, which in turn means he has minimal issues with disease and weight loss when they move to his farm.
Two weaning methods were used on the farm this year. Watch the video below where Michael discusses them and the overall weaning process on the farm. And click on ‘Read more’ to learn about Michael’s red clover plans.
Farm Update - Ruairi Cummins
Ruairi with his daughter Laura and their dog Jess.
Ruairi is farming 35ha of grassland in Kilmoganny, Co. Kilkenny. His herd consists of 45 spring-calving suckler cows that are bred to a Charolais bull.
The heifers get AI'd to easy-calving bulls with good maternal traits. Ruairi finishes most of the bulls under-16 months of age (396kg carcass weight, U-3-), and the remaining heifers and bullocks are sold as stores.
Ruairi completed his third-cut silage on September 16 and was delighted with the yield. According to his fodder budget on PastureBase, he now has sufficient feed for the winter. He also cut and baled part of the riparian buffer zone on the out farm, as recommended, and while the feed quality will not be high, it will be more than adequate for his dry suckler cows over the winter.
Third-cut silage was harvested in mid September.
The sheds on Ruairi’s farm were measured to assess the available lying and feed space available for his stock. One side of the cattle shed is used for housing the finishing bulls, and research shows that they need 2.7m2 lying space and 0.63m feeding space for optimum performance. At 23.2m2 per bay, this means that Ruairi can hold a maximum of eight bulls per pen. Feeding space at the barrier only allows for seven bulls, so Ruairi uses a window with troughs at the back of the pen to increase the feeding space allowance. To find out more about the recommended lying and feed space allowances for Ruairi’s farm click ‘Read more’.
Farm Update - Wesley Browne
Wesley Browne has been improving his soil fertility.
Wesley is farming 65.7ha full-time in Leagh, Dunraymond, Co. Monaghan.
The land is split into four blocks and he runs a spring-calving suckler herd. All male progeny are finished as under-16 month bulls, and the suitable high-index females are retained or sold to repeat customers for breeding, with all other heifers finished at 23-24 months.
Wesley has been focusing on improving the soil fertility and his soil sample results from spring 2024 show that the percentage of his farm at optimum soil fertility (pH >6.2, phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) index 3 or 4) is at 40%. This has increased significantly from 13% in 2021. He attributes this to spreading lime on the farm and prioritising slurry and compounds for silage and low-index fields.
Wesley recently had two loads of lime (40t) delivered to the farm and plans to spread it on his silage fields over the coming week, while they are fit to travel. He comments: “We have had a lot of rain on the farm this summer, which has made field work challenging. I’m taking the opportunity to spread lime on silage fields that need it according to the soil samples. I spread lime last year on one particular field and have noticed a big improvement in re-growths this year, despite the poor growth rates throughout the year”.
40t of lime is ready for spreading on Wesley’s farm.
To read more about Wesley’s grazing and housing plans, click ‘Read more’ .
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