General detail
- 26 beef heifers, all of which met QPS spec, were sold off grass (no meals) on the 6th of October
- The average grade for the 26 heifers was R = 3 =
- Average liveweight was 563 Kg on the 6th of October
- Carcase average weight was 288 Kg and the kill-out percentage was 51%
- A base price of €3.65/kg was paid
- The average sale price was €1,113
- The 26 heifers were on average 19 months of age
- They were 197 days at grass from turnout to slaughter
- No concentrates were fed at grass pre-slaughter
- The remaining 31 heifers are currently receiving 5 kg concentrate supplementation at grass.
- Their average weight on the 30th Sept was 522 Kg
- Farm manager Iarlaith Collins has identified seven heifers from this batch and these will be sold early next week along with five cull cows which are also on 5 kg of concentrates.
- The remaining 24 heifers will stay at grass until weather conditions force housing.
- All heifers are receiving concentrates in the yard and this is working well on preventing damage to swards.
- The 35 remaining beef bullocks were housed on the 2nd of October
- They were 194 days at grass from turnout to housing
- An average daily gain of 0.84 Kg was achieved from turnout on 22nd March to housing on 2nd October
- They are now receiving 6 Kg concentrates along with ad-lib silage
- Feeding is split with 3 kg of a high-energy 12% protein content coarse ration offered in the morning and another 3 kg in the evening
- Iarlaith intends to draft a portion of these bullocks in two weeks’ time
- The bullocks have had their tail’s and back’s clipped to keep animals cooler with temperatures currently relatively high
- All the weanlings (96) have settled well back at grass after weaning with no health issues to report
- Weanling are receiving 2 kg of a high-energy, 18% protein ration fed in troughs at grass
- A summary is detailed below of the average weaning weights for 2020
Pictured: Weanlings settled back at grass three weeks after weaning
Key recommendations for this week
- Watch cows for tetany during these cold nights
- Keep mineral buckets to weaned cows
- Identify paddocks and close accordingly
- Draft heifers for the factory
- Spread farm yard dung on selected paddocks
- Faecal sample the cows for ( BEEP-s)