Page 58 - Farm Programmes News Today

Yearling cattle at pasture on the demo farm. \ Philip Doyle The yearling cattle are at grass with almost a month at this stage on the Thrive demonstration farm. As they come to graze the last couple of paddocks in the first rotation, they are entering higher grass covers than we would have liked. This is not too much of an issue at this stage of the year as there is no stem appearing in the base of the sward just yet. The focus needs to be on achieving a good graze-out of these swards in orde...

This week’s 20-page special dairy calf to beef supplement in the Irish Farmers Journal focuses on all things dairy calf to beef from purchasing calves, health management, grazing advice, completing budgets and taking a look at the markets for dairy beef. With dairy cow numbers increasing, more and more beef in the future will come from the dairy herd. It’s important that our readers are fully briefed on the positives and negatives of any farm system. This is why we set up the Thrive prog...

Dairylink: setting new benchmarking targets 2021-04-13

SHARING OPTIONS: Carry a thermometer at all times when rearing calves and check any calf that looks to be off form. It has been a difficult spring weather-wise for calf rearing. We have experienced wind, rain, sleet and snow, as well as high and low temperatures, sometimes all within a 24-hour period. One thing that calves do not like is changeable weather. It takes them a while to adjust and no sooner have they settled, the weather changes again. High ...

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Exceptional demand for calves over the last number of weeks meant the Thrive programme farmers were almost priced out of the market, with it being difficult to see a positive margin at the end of the system due to high calf prices. That being said, there is a balancing point between calf price and calf birthdate - striking that balance is proving very difficult so far this year. Many of the farms in the programme are operating a 19- to 20-month system that sees animals slaughtered off grass at...

SHARING OPTIONS: The temporary creep areas are back in use on Newford Farm, with cows and calves rehoused on Tuesday and settling in well since housing. It has been a challenging week on Newford Farm, the 100-cow suckler-to-beef herd located in Athenry, Co Galway. With 16mm of rainfall at the start of the week and significant volumes forecast thereafter, a decision was taken to temporarily rehouse the 50 cows and calves and yearling bullocks. The practic...

Land had dried out well in the previous week, when the first cattle went to grass. The heifers were grazing in three batches and, up until Tuesday, graze-outs had been quite good. Heavy rainfall over Tuesday night saw some superficial damage done to a couple of paddocks. The heifers were starting to tramp grass back into the ground due to the heavy rainfall. The heifers were moved on Wednesday to avoid excessive poaching and to keep fresh grass under their heads. However, with the weather no...

SHARING OPTIONS: While a few cases of bloat are not uncommon in dairy-beef calves, if it is more prevalent on farm you need to consider feeding consistency and feeding hygiene. While buying for the programme remains slow due to high calf prices, some calves continue to arrive at the demonstration farm. These calves are coming directly from farms in close proximity to the demo farm at John Hally’s in Cashel, Co Tipperary, so there is no need to feed an el...

Dairylink participant James King. A virtual farm walk is taking place on James King’s farm in Ballymena, Co Antrim on Wednesday 10 March 2021. James runs 195 Holstein cows in a predominantly autumn calving system. Topics covered during the event will include plans for getting cows out to grass, improving soil fertility, nutrient management plans and managing grass throughout the grazing season. Speakers at the event include host farmer James King, Dairylink Ireland adviser Aidan Cushnahan an...