Making small and simple upgrades to make life on the beef farm easier

Tue, 07 Nov, 2023 - 11:33

Ruairi Cummins, Kilmoganny, Co Kilkenny

Winter has really settled in on the farm this month. All of the calves were weaned in October using the nose paddles, and they were brilliant. Apart from one calf losing one and doing some roaring at weaning, there was no noise from the others, so I was very happy with them. They were very easy to insert and to remove and have proved to be a game changer on the farm, so I’ll definitely use them again next year.

The bull weanlings have now been housed for three weeks, and their backs and tails were clipped. I bought new rechargeable cordless clippers this year, and it’s much safer than the corded ones I had previously. They were weighed on October 28 and averaged 409kg.

They are 29kg lighter than last year, but considering the weather conditions over summer, I’m happy with them, and they are on target to reach 500kg at 12 months of age. They are being fed 2kg of ration each per day and will build up to 4kg by mid-November.

The heifers and bullocks were housed on October 30. All young stock will be dosed over the next two weeks with a pour-on, which will treat them for stomach worms, lungworms and lice. Faecal egg samples will be taken six weeks after housing and the coproantigen test can detect immature fluke if present, but it isn’t typically an issue on the farm. Cows will be treated for lice.

The pens in the slatted shed were measured last winter to determine how many cattle should be housed in each one to have enough lying and feeding space. They are 4.97m long and 4.67m wide, or 23.2m2.

The weanlings will need 1.7m2 of lying space and 0.5m each of feeding space. Therefore, each pen has sufficient lying space for 13 weanlings and feeding space for 18 weanlings as ration can be fed at both sides of the pen, but a maximum of 13 weanlings will be penned per bay.

We tested the silage on the farm, and I was quite happy with the results. The best sample was first cut silage from the outfarm that tested at 76% DMD and 14.6% crude protein. This will be fed to the growing bulls with 2.5kg of barley and 0.5kg of a 12% ration.

They will then move up to 4kg barley and 4kg of the 12% ration when they move onto their finishing diet. Another sample tested at 75.5% DMD and 17% crude protein, so this can be fed straight to the store weanlings with no ration, but I will weigh them to ensure they gain their target 0.6 kg/day. The second cut silage tested at 66% DMD, so that will feed the cows for the winter.

The cattle are all settled into a routine since housing, and I’m finding it easier to manage them in the yard at this time of year. It’s taking one and a half hours to feed silage and meal in the morning, and I usually bed them and carry out any routine jobs in the evening after work. Some of the yard lights will be replaced to help during the dark evenings, and the yard is always kept tidy to reduce any risk of trips or falls.

I hosted a group of sixth-year agricultural science students from Carrick on Suir recently and really enjoyed the walk around the farm with them. It’s always great to see the next generation of farmers and scientists coming along!