Less silage, more grazing: Rethink is driving efficiency on Michael's Galway sheep farm
Farmer Michael Forde, Parkhouse, Annagh West, Corrandulla, Co Galway. Picture: Ray Ryan
The recent spell of good weather was extremely welcome on the farm.
One wouldn’t be long forgetting the previous six months of rain when we can get a week or two of excellent weather. It is such a relief having all stock out and all stock seems to be thriving well now, which is very reassuring. Having the sheep and cattle out to grass has really reduced the workload and the cost of feeding, bedding and straw.
Grazed grass is by far the cheapest and best feed we have on our farm. Every year we try to grow and, most importantly, utilise more grass.
Measuring grass for the last few years has really given me the confidence to know when I can remove surplus paddocks. It has also helped identify low-performing paddocks.
By measuring grass, I have also identified a paddock near the yard that was not growing sufficient grass and was always slow to recover.
I decided to reseed this paddock and it has recently been sown with new seed. It has been a few years since we reseeded, so we are hoping this paddock will go well. If it does, I have identified a few more paddocks that I would like to reseed.
The paddock that we reseeded was grazed bare over the winter with some hoggets. We sprayed it off with glyphosate, gave it slurry and reseeded it.
We wanted to pick a variety of grass that could be utilised for both silage and grazing, so we went with a highly digestible and persistent grass mixture with good spring growth, which is important for us when letting out ewes and lambs.
In terms of silage, as previously mentioned, we are planning to change our silage routine this year and give some silage fields a rest. When looking at the soil results with my advisor while doing my BISS and Sheep Welfare Scheme application, it was easy to identify the silage fields, as these were my lower phosphorus and potassium soils.
I have decided to swap silage fields this year, and I will also be spreading slurry and some 0-0-50 on my low K (potassium) soils.
We are on target to cut some silage before the end of May. Making some good-quality early bales has really improved cattle and sheep performance over the winter, while also reducing our concentrate bill.
I have applied for the Sheep Welfare Scheme, and it was relatively easy to pick the actions from both categories A and B, as we are already doing all the actions on the farm.
As part of the Better Sheep Programme, ewes are regularly condition scored.
Ewes are shorn yearly; ewes are vaccinated and footbathed, and we also plunge dip the sheep. So, we actually ticked all boxes for the Sheep Welfare Scheme.
I was contemplating vaccinating for bluetongue and, having talked to my vet and other agri professionals, I have decided to go ahead with the vaccination.
That said, I have not heard of any incidences nearby and am aware that the vaccination I am giving is not applicable to all strains of the bluetongue virus. However, I feel it is better that we vaccinate and reduce the risk of contracting the disease in our flock.
Ewes and lambs have also been put through the footbath already and — as mentioned in previous articles — we built a roofed footbath facility last year.
This has made life for both man and beast a lot easier, as we can batch footbath larger numbers of sheep together, thus reducing labour.
Labour efficiency is vital on the farm as I work off-farm; it is important that jobs can be done quickly and efficiently.
We have also completed our seven-week lamb weights recently, and we will analyse these results more closely in my next article.
- Michael Forde runs a mixed cattle and sheep farm in Annagh West, Corrandulla, Co Galway.
- His Teagasc advisor is Kevin Fahey. He writes for the 'Irish Examiner' as part of its Signpost Series.
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