Newford Notes - Week of 26th April 2022

Michael Fagan, Technician at Newford Suckler Demonstration Farm, Athenry summarises the calving results for 2022 now that all cows have calved. Breeding is underway. Michael summarises the criteria used when selecting sires for the 2022 breeding season. Two strong paddocks were baled. Read more here
Calving on Newford Farm is now complete for 2022 and the results are summarised below
- 94 cows were scanned in-calf
- One heifer which was scanned in-calf suffered early embryo loss in the first half of December 2021
- This left 93 cows to calve down once the calving season started.The first cow calved on the 27th of January
- The Last cow calved on the 5th of April
- 89% of the herd had calved down by six weeks
- 100% of the herd had down by 10 weeks
- Two sets of twins
There are 89 live calves on the ground with six cases of mortality as follows;
- Four cases have been attributed to stillbirths
- One calf died during a vet caesarean section
- One calf died two weeks after being born.
At this moment in time there are no health issues to report on the farm
- All calves were disbudded as appropriate and are receiving treatment for coccidiosis as they come of age
- They are also receiving their IBR and clostridial disease vaccination
Calving was positive with few problems and much of this success can be attributed to sire selection and management of the cow.
- The average weight of all calves born was 42 kg
- Average bull calf weight is 44 kg
- Average heifer calf weight is 38 kg
The average calving score is 2 and a detailed breakdown is listed below
Third calver with her Laurel male calf. He was born on the 1st of February weighing 43kg and is thriving well in positive grazing conditions.
Breeding programme
The Breeding season started on Wednesday the 20th of April and details of the programme are as follows;
- All cows were tail painted last week and heat detection has been recorded in a note book for the last two weeks to monitor breeding activity, which has been positive to date.
- Cows will be batched into two groups (42 per group) for the breeding season and a teaser bull will run with each group
- Three teaser bulls with an average weight of 406 kg were bought (ready to go) costing €1,016 each
- Teaser bulls have been fitted with Moocall heat detection collars along with a chin ball harness for marking the cows.
- The breeding season will last for 10 weeks and finish on 29th of June100 % AI will be used on the farm again this year.
- Once a day AI will be used and cows will be inseminated at midday each day.
- If a cow is inseminated at 12 noon and she is still displaying standing heat again that evening that same cow will be inseminated again the next day (12 noon)
- The majority of cows are in an ideal body condition score for breeding.
- There are 23 replacement heifers for breeding also this year and a teaser bull is also running with them.
- Tail paint patches were put on the heifers as very little tail paint was being rubbed off by the teaser making it more difficult to visually pick up animals in heat.
Cows were tail painted yellow for the first round of breeding
Sire Choice
The following criteria was used this year when selecting sires for the 2022 breeding season;
- 5 Star Terminal Index (within & across)
- < 8 % calving difficulty for strong mature beef cows
- < 5.8 % calving difficulty for young beef cows
- > 70 % reliability for predicted calving difficulty figure
- > 1.86 on conformation score
- > 35 kg predicted carcase weight for mature cows
- >25 kg predicted carcase weight for young cows
- < 6 % calving difficulty for first calvers (beef Heifers) with reliability of at least 80%
- > 25 Kg predicted carcase weight
- Cost of an AI straw less than €20
Sires which will be used on the Newford Herd for 2022 are as follows:
Grass walk
Silage ground for 1st cut pit silage and 1st cut round bales was closed on the 16th of April.
- All silage ground received 3,000 gallons of cattle slurry and 60 units of protected urea per acre.
- All silage paddocks were also rolled at closing
- Utilisation of all paddocks is excellent at the moment, with all paddocks been grazed out well.
- 7 acres (two paddocks) which had grass cover of nearly 1,900 was taken out for round bales on Wednesday evening (27th of May). There were 18 round bales on the 7 acres
With so many stock out at grass demand is putting pressure on grass supplies. To enhance growth 25kg of urea per acre is being applied after each grazing to the most productive paddocks to conserve tight supplies of fertiliser and keep costs in check.
TB issues persist
- Unfortunately there were two 2021-born heifers identified as TB reactors in the latest TB test carried out a fortnight ago.
- The heifers in question were immediately quarantined and have been valued in the last week by the Department of Agriculture. The heaviest heifer weighed 495kg liveweight and was valued at a price of €2.95/kg or €1,460. The second heifer weighed 475kg and valued at €2.90/kg or €1,378 gross.
- The heifers will be removed imminently off the farm for slaughter.
- The farm will remain on a 60-day testing programme until it achieves two clear TB tests. The herd has been restricted since last July.
More information on the Newford Herd can be found here