General Detail
- The majority of the suckler herd has now been housed, due to the weather conditions and wet ground. Utilisation of grass with heavy stock on paddocks had become unsatisfactory, with the result of grass been walk back into the ground
- All the weanling (107) is at grass and receiving 2 kg of concentrates at grass. The main group has been split into two groups for two reasons.
- To reducing poaching of paddocks
- To grazed off heavy covers on paddocks
- The third groups of weanling’s are on Tuohy’s Farm and they are also receiving 2 Kgs of concentrates
- As of the moment there are no health issues to report on the weanlings even though there has been heavy rainfall. All weanling’s are monitor closely for any pneumonia.
- Newford Farm will be hoping to keep these weanling out on grass for another 2 to 3 weeks if the weather allows. Every day Newford Farm keeps those weanling at grass , will be a saving on the silage round bales , as housing started 5 weeks earlier this year as to compared to Autumn 2018
- The 51 beef bullocks were housed and weighted on the 27th of September .
- The average weighted was 576 Kgs (27th Sept)
- They were 188 days at grass
- ADG from turnout to housing was 1.03 Kgs
- They are receiving 6 Kgs of concentrates and 77 % DMD round bale silage at the moment
- First of these steers will be selected for drafting in the coming weeks
- 16 beef in-spec heifers were drafted for the factory on the 9th of October
- Their average live weight was 574 Kgs
- The average carcase weight was 306 Kgs
- KO % was 53 %
- There was 2 ( U ) grades, 14 (R) grades
- The average sale price for the 16 heifers was € 1,147
- The remainder of beef heifers ( 23 ) are on 5 KGs and their average weight on the 8th of October was 488 Kgs
- 16 of these heifers will be drafted early next week ( report in next week’s notes)
Key recommendations for this week
- Watch weanlings closely for pneumonia and coccidiosis
- Closed paddocks after each grazing once the weanlings are finished in it.
- Be planning for early grass in spring 2020
- Selected any bullocks coming near fit for drafting and pen together