Ed Curtin June Update
Updating fodder budgets
- Revise fodder budget after 1st cut silage is made
- Complete it on PastureBase to enter meal feeding rates and give a more accurate picture of the fodder situation on your farm
- Calculate how much more silage you will need to make in second cut and from surplus paddocks to meet your feed requirement for the year
Focusing on second cut silage and good graze outs
- Record silage yields on PastureBase Ireland
- Spread sufficient slurry and chemical fertiliser for second cut silage
- Graze older, stemmier paddocks at covers of 1200-1400 kg DM/ha to achieve good clean outs
Make the most of good cattle prices
- Weigh dairy beef calves, target >100kg at 12 weeks of age
- Continue to sell cattle to the factory as they become fit
- If applicable, continue to sell live cattle while prices are holding
Animal Nutrition
The weanling bulls are eating 2.25 kg ration/head. They are expected to be sold by August.
The winter fodder budget for the farm was revised on PastureBase Ireland. It is more accurate for estimating the silage requirements of stock as the cattle weights can be entered, along with the quantity of ration that they will be fed/head/day over the winter. It estimates that Ed will need 106.53 t dry matter silage for next winter. He has approximately 307 bales of silage in the yard already (260 made this year, 47 left over from last winter) which equates to just under 74 tonnes of dry matter. Ed expects to make a further 250 bales of silage which will give him 60 tonnes of dry matter (800kg bales @ 30% dry matter) which will give him a buffer for next winter.
Grassland
Ed cut his first cut silage on 12th/13th May. He averaged 8.4 bales/acre and is hoping that it will test at over 70% DMD in the autumn. 3000 gallons of slurry/acre was spread for second cut with the cord and dribble bar. It will also receive 54 units of nitrogen/acre and Ed aims to cut it around the 10th of July.
One bag of 10-10-20 and half a bag of 27-2.5-5 were spread/acre on the grazing ground in Boherbue to feed it the required phosphorus and potassium. As there is a lot of silage ground coming back into the grazing block, grass re-growths are slow on lower covers but Ed can afford to skip a round of fertiliser to help him stay on top of grass quality and to graze them at the target of 1400 kg DM/ha. As he estimates that he will have sufficient silage for next winter, making surplus bales is not a priority for him this year.
Ed measured grass on the out- farm on 9th June. He had a farm cover of 1058 kg DM/ha, with a growth rate of 42 kg DM/ha and a demand of 36 kg DM/ha. There were 29 days of grass ahead on the farm. Ed decided to take out two paddocks for silage and will be holding off on spreading any more fertiliser. Seven paddocks which were cut for silage are coming back into the grazing block and is resulting in a lot of grass on the farm, even though re-growths are slow. Ed’s priority is to keep good quality grass in front of stock, with a target pre-grazing yield of 1400 kg DM/ha. As the after grass will be fresh, he is focusing his attention on grazing older paddocks that were not cut for silage such as the ‘Black Field’ with the group of dairy beef yearlings so that the quality will be good at 1400 kg DM/ha, it will prevent the field from going stemmy and the larger group of grazing stock will graze it quicker than the smaller groups of weanlings and in calf heifers.
Performance
The 30 dairy beef calves which were born between 1st to 30th March were weighed on 6th June. They averaged 110kg (range 88 – 120 kg), having gained 0.75 kg/day since birth. Their target is to be over 100kg at 12 weeks of age (which would have been 3rd June) so it is good to see that they are head of target already.
One heifer was slaughtered on 12th May. She was 315kg carcass weight and graded U-3=, making €1675.80 at 17 months of age.
A weanling bull was sold on 18th May through the mart. He was 355kg and made €1100 (€3.10/kg).