General Detail
- Ground conditions have not improved due to heavy rain in recent days and utilisation has been poor.
- 62 weanlings are at grass receiving 2 kg of meal. We had planned to turn out the remaining weaned calves to grass on Wednesday 11th but this was postponed due to the heavy rainfall on Tuesday night (almost an inch of rain fell). The plan is to get them out before the weekend.
- 15 heifers have been slaughter recently. The average grade and fat cover from these heifers was R= 4-
- There were 13 R’s and 2 O grades. The 2 O grade animals were progeny from purchased in-calf replacement heifers sired by an AA bull. Summary as below
- More heifers and steers will be drafted for the factory early next week.
- All Newford calves have now been weaned. The average weaning date for the 107 weanlings is the 21st September. The weaning was done in 4 stages 9th Sept, 13th Sept, 29th Sept and the 2nd Oct.
- The weaning weight for the male weanlings is 311 Kgs and 289 Kgs for the heifers. The summary is as followed.
- All Newford cows were weighed and condition scored at weaning to work out percentage of weaning weight of the calf.
- Lime is being spread on the slats for the last bunch of weaned cows to reduce infections. This practice has been working very well with little to minor infections to report.
Grassland Management
- Target pre grazing paddocks at 1400/1450 Kg DM (kg DM/Ha)
- To view our grass measurement report log onto www.pasturebase.teagasc.ie and click Newford Farm on the drop down menu
Key recommendations for this week
- Check calves for pneumonia and coccidiosis
- Watch out for any mastitis in the dry cows
- Prepare and identify paddocks for winter closure , with the view to early grass in the spring 2018
- Draft more heifers and steers for sale
Please Note
- Newford Farm welcomes all farmers and KT Discussion groups to the farm
- Matthew Murphy, Newford farm manger is presenting at the Teagasc National Beef Conference in Tullamore Court Hotel Tullamore next Tuesday 17th October at 3pm. The topic is Using AI in a 100 cow suckler herd.