Signpost: Weighing calves at birth to improve the information being recorded for ICBF

Navigating spring with data-backed lambing, calving, multi-species swards, and meticulous health management.

Kay O’Sullivan pictured with a day-old lamb in the sheep barn at her organic farm, Glynn Farm, near Mallow. Picture Chani Anderson

Spring has sprung with the daffodils in full bloom now. Spring is always a very busy time on the farm. 

Lambing started on the 20th February and is almost finished. At this stage, the main flock are commercial Charolais sired with a pedigree Charolais ram. Lambing went well with just one c-section on a hogget. Calving has also started. Calves are born very lively, and I put this down to the minerals I am using. 

The herd is Angus with 100% AI used on the farm. Some of the sires I am using this year Delish Wingman, Nebo, Gabriel Pat, Swanky Valentino, Westellen Boss. At birth, calves are weighed and tagged. I am also participating in the national genotyping programme, and it is great to get that job done early at the tagging stage. 

This year, I decided to start weighing the calves at birth to improve the information being recorded for ICBF. I am using a sheep scales on the farm for carrying out the weighing process, and it doesn’t take long. I then record the weights on ICBF using the ICBF app on my phone. Calves will be performance monitored throughout the year. Once the cows have calved, they are moved to grass where they have access to a high fertility high magnesium mineral bucket. Prior to calving, the incalf cows are on a low DMD silage, as I find the Angus put on weight very easily.

The young stock are still grazing the redstart. They will finish grazing that very shortly. They are on high DMD red clover silage as well. They will be faecal sampled shortly, with samples handed into my vets for in-house testing, under the organic system. If there is a problem, the livestock can be treated, but is double the standard withdrawal and triple the standard withdrawal if they are destined for the factory. 

Any cattle destined for the factory can only receive one treatment in the 12 months, with breeding stock allowed two treatments. If they receive additional treatments, they will lose their organic status. They can remain on the farm for two years, when the organic status will be regained; if not, they can be sold conventionally.

I operate a clean grazing system, so I have very few problems with parasites. Cattle will be weighed coming off the redstart and moved onto the previous year’s multi-species reseed. They will be performance monitored throughout the year. A second grass walk took place in February, with two grass walks planned for March, then weekly from April. The benefit of grass measuring through the year is that I can monitor poor-performing paddocks, earmark them for reseed next year, and paddocks with surplus grass taken out for silage. 

The annual organic inspection took place in February with no issues arising. Multi-species will be sown once the weather allows. I have been growing multi-species since 2018. It is a brilliant crop for finishing cattle and sheep. Multi-species contains chicory, plantains, clovers and grasses. In a year of drought, it is the plant that continues giving as it is drought-resistant. I have also taken out a number of multi-species sward paddocks for silage over the years, with the resulting silage testing very high for crude protein up to 19%. As well as enhancing biodiversity on the farm, it has also been shown to reduce parasitic burdens in grazing livestock through its anthelmintic properties.