Signpost: Our better-quality silage will be targeted to the weanlings
Eamon and Donnchadh McCarthy on their farm at Carrigeen, Youghal, Co Waterford. Picture: Patrick Browne
The recent dry spell of weather was very welcome, and has allowed us to keep stock out at grass, without the added work of allocating 12-hour blocks for the cattle.
The only animals housed at the moment on the farm are the 2024-born autumn bulls and some cull cows for finishing. We mentioned earlier in the year we were planning to build a four-bay easy feed unit this year.
We received our TAMS approval in July, and currently, the shed is erected, and most of the concrete work in the shed is completed. We are now just awaiting concreting an area between the new shed and the existing unit. This should be completed before the week is out.
This new build will reduce the labour requirement and also streamline animal handling on the farm. We are very conscious of making the farm more labour-efficient, as both of us work off-farm. Although we always try to get stock out in the spring as early as possible, this new-build will allow us to practise on off-grazing far more easily in the future.
The shed is designed so animals can be drafted from any pen in the shed to the animal handling unit without having to set up any gates/wires, etc. From finishing animals, we see the benefit of knowing the weight gains of the animals so better decisions can be made.
Our three cuts of silage have been analysed, with the silages ranging from 69% DMD up to 75% DMD. The better-quality silage will be targeted to the weanlings, finishing animals and autumn calvers once housed.
The spring calving cows will be fed the 69% DMD silage ad lib. We have completed the final fodder budget after the third cut in early September, so we should have enough silage to carry us through to April next year. We will monitor the usage of the silage per month and a decision will be made early if we need to stretch the silage stock. This can be done by introducing straw or fillers to the well-conditioned spring calving herd.
Our reseeds have received their post-emergence weed spray and have been grazed. The high clover reseed was sown on arable land and was relatively clean to start with. The winter barley was also sown this past week in ideal conditions.
In the last few articles, we have focused on the performance of the finishing bulls and the role good genetics play in producing a profitable animal for sale. We have also placed a big emphasis on increasing the genetic merit of the cows on the farm by using the Eurostar index.
We are trying to improve the carcass weight and fertility of the herd while maintaining the milk yield of the cows. The 2025 spring-born heifers have an average replacement index of €155, with a milk sub index of 6.2kg and a calving interval of -1.77days.
The carcass weight has increased to 19.7kg. The main maternal sires used are Shannon Stan (LM9379), Erebos (LM6172), Curaheen Earp (SI2152), Turloughmore Magnificent (AU4683) and Knottown Roy (SA4604).
The spring-born calves have nearly all been weaned, we use the quiet wean paddles. We put the paddles on to the calves and leave them on for seven days. The calves remain in the field and the cows are removed to the outfarm. As a result, the calves are under no stress and remain with their herdmates and receive a creep ration daily.
We commenced breeding on the autumn calving herd slightly earlier than last year, on October 4. Over 50% of the herd was submitted for heat within the first 10 days. The heifers were all AI’d to AA9860 Westellen Boss, the cows are receiving a mixture of terminal and maternal sires.
The 2024 autumn-born bulls are performing well on their finishing diet, with is a 50:50 mix of a 13% beef ration and homegrown rolled barley plus ad lib silage. The bulls average weight is 555kg and their weight gain since the last weighing was 2.17kg. The heaviest bull was 679kg and gained 2.5kg since the last weighing.
- Eamon and his son Donnchadh are farming in Carrigeen, Glendine, Youghal, Co Waterford, and are part of the Teagasc Future Beef programme with the Signpost programme. They run a suckling to beef enterprise split into 60% spring and 40% autumn-calving, consisting of 55 suckler cows. The males are finished as under-16-month bull beef, while the heifers, not retained for breeding, are finished at 18-20 months. Own heifers are kept for breeding.
