What climate actions can you take this October?
Read the latest farm advice and current actions farmers should consider taking
- Close grass clover swards in late October / early November
- Order your protected urea for 2024
- Apply Lime
- Apply K to low index soils
- Sign up for the Teagasc Signpost Advisory Programme
Regularly assess cattle and slaughter as they become fit: It is really important to monitor your cattle’s performance to ensure that they are meeting their targets and that they will be in spec when slaughtered. This can be done in a number of ways;
- Weighing cattle regularly – Cattle on a finishing diet should be weighed at least once per month. This will show if they are meeting their target weight gains and will indicate if there is any underlying issues such as parasite burdens, respiratory disease or poor diets.
- Handling cattle – It is important to assess the fat cover of your finishing cattle to make sure that they do not go over fat which is a waste of money and may also lead to severe financial penalties at the time of sale. Further details on how to judge this are outlined below.
- Watch dates and weights - As well as watching the average daily gain of your cattle, you also need to be mindful of the expected carcass weights and the age of the animal. It is important to know your market and to chat to your agent to make sure you are producing animals to the desired carcass weight to meet consumer preferences. Slower growing cattle should be monitored to ensure that they are not over age (ideally less than 30 months) at slaughter which will again have financial implications.