Autumn calving and animal health on John Barry’s farm
John Barry, Future Beef farmer, describes farming practices on his farm. He details seasonal calving with 50–55 cows in spring and 30–35 in autumn, housing schedules, and health management protocols.
Animal Health
Weaning of the spring calves is now complete on John’s farm, and they are grazing the silage fields as part of the last rotation. They will be housed over the coming month and have been vaccinated, dosed, and some of the males were castrated. They are consuming 2 kg of ration per head per day.
Routine dosing is not typically carried out on the farm’s suckler cows, and recent faecal egg samples revealed low egg counts, indicating no need for dosing. However, there was a ‘low positive’ result for rumen fluke, which is generally not an issue. Noticing three cows with loose stools and a slight drop in condition, John plans to selectively dose them for rumen fluke as a precaution.
The sheds have been power-washed, and any necessary repairs were completed in the autumn.
Watch the video below, where John discusses his stock health in preparation for housing.
Breeding
Autumn calving has progressed well on the farm this year, beginning on August 23rd. Thanks to the mild weather, most calves were born outside. John has had no health issues with the calves so far, though the cows were vaccinated against IBR pre-calving, as this has historically been a concern on the farm. The antibodies from the vaccination would have transferred to the calves through the colostrum, providing them with preventative protection against IBR. Only three cows are left to calve in November, and no calves have been lost to date. Breeding is scheduled to start on November 1st.
Autumn cows and calves at grass
John has selected the following bulls for use on the autumn cows:
- Sliabh Felim Sterling (LM8929): to be used on heifers
- Drumline S (LM9577) and Knockmoyle Loki (CH4159): to be used on first calvers
- An De Beauffaux (BB4438) and Clenagh Superior ET (CH8968): to be used on more terminal cows
- Drumline S 1185 (LM9577) and Sliabh Felim Sterling (LM8929): to be used on the more maternal cows
LM8929 has a heifer calving difficulty figure of 5.3% at 74% reliability, so John is comfortable using him on his heifers. He is well-balanced for both maternal and terminal traits, allowing John to retain replacement heifers from him if desired. Some of his key figures are as follows:
- Replacement index: €169
- Terminal index: €156
- Daughter milk: +6.9 kg
- Daughter calving interval: +2.63 days (although a negative figure is preferable)
- Carcass weight: +30.4 kg
- Carcass conformation: 43
- Age at finish: -1.14 days
LM9577 is relatively easy-calving, with a cow calving difficulty of 3% at 74% reliability. He has a replacement index of €192 and a terminal index of €194. His traits include:
- Daughter milk: +4.6 kg
- Daughter calving interval: +1.1 days
- Carcass weight: +38.3 kg
- Carcass conformation: 2.69
- Age at finish: +2.72 days
He will produce good terminal cattle, but also has potential to yield replacement heifers when bred with John’s milkier cows.
CH4159 is a terminal bull that John has used for several years and is highly satisfied with. He has a terminal index of €159 and a cow calving difficulty of 6.5% at 99% reliability. Key traits include:
- Carcass weight: +36.1 kg
- Carcass conformation: 2.46
- Age at finish: +3.44 days
- Daughter milk: -4.4 kg (so John avoids retaining replacements from him)
Both BB4438 and CH8968 have cow calving difficulties between 9% and 9.9%, with reliability ranging from 89% to 99%. John will be selective about the cows he pairs with them. Both bulls have strong terminal traits, with a terminal index of €98 to €137, a carcass weight figure of 29.8 to 46.7 kg, and a carcass conformation score of 2.57 to 2.68. Due to low daughter milk figures, John will not retain replacements from them.
John also purchased four heifers as replacements, which will be bred with the autumn herd.
One of the purchased heifers, with +7.4 kg for daughter milk, +17.1 kg for carcass weight, and -9.02 days on age at finish
Performance
One cow was finished on October 1st at a carcass weight of 400 kg. She graded U=2+ at 30 months of age and sold for €2,040.
John also finished six heifers on the same day. They averaged 353 kg at 26.6 months of age and graded U-3-. Their average sale price was €1,932 per head.
John anticipates that his stock sales for the year are nearly complete. A TB test is scheduled on the farm, and given the prevalence of the disease in the area, he plans to manage the remaining stock on-site in case the herd faces movement restrictions.