Denis Hickey: Flying calves and fields bursting with grass
Denis Hickey, who recently returned to farm the family land after it was leased for more than 30 years, pictured on his dairy beef farm near Midleton in Co Cork. Picture: Chani Anderson
The last few pens of calves on the farm are currently being weaned off milk.
This year, I have decided to hold all calves in the shed on a diet of straw and concentrates for two to three weeks after weaning in order to further develop their rumen and hopefully avoid any issues when transitioning them to grass.
The weaned calves indoors are flying through concentrates and are consuming up to 3.5kg per day.
Some weaned calves are already out at grass and have been reduced to 2.5kg of concentrate plus straw. They will be gradually reduced to 1-1.5kg as their grass intake increases.
They have received their first vaccination shots for both pneumonia and clostridial diseases and will get their second shots three to four weeks after their first shots, but I will leave time between giving the pneumonia and the clostridial vaccinations.
Calves were weighed in early May, with the heifer calves averaging 113kg and the bull calves 107kg.
Like any group of stock, there is quite a range in weights and performance, but in general, I am happy with how the calves have gone so far.
Some fields that I reseeded last year and grazed late into last winter weren’t grazed this spring.
As they had been grazed out well, they were fertilised for silage, and I cut them three weeks ago, averaging 11 bales per acre.
They were made in good condition and, fingers crossed, they should be high quality.
Grass is growing well on the farm at the moment. My average farm cover is a bit high at just over 1,000kg DM/ha.
A number of paddocks have covers over 2,000kg DM/ha, so they will not be grazed and will be cut for bales, with the aim of reducing average farm cover down to around 650kg DM/ha.
The aim is to get grass covers corrected and back on track with an average farm cover of 650kg DM/ha.
Achieving that will mean cattle going into grass covers of 1,300-1,500kg DM/ha, making sure that high-quality grass will be available for animals to maximise performance.
At these covers, graze-outs should also be better and reduce the need for topping.
My paddock sizes of four acres are currently too big for my steer and heifer group sizes, so I am using temporary reels to split them so that I can get in and get them grazed out in three days. This way, regrowth is not affected.
It also allows me the option to cut out half paddocks if they become too strong before grazing.
At present, I have two paddocks (eight acres) sprayed off for reseeding.
Having been sprayed a few weeks ago, they are well burnt off now. Two tonnes of lime per acre have been applied, and the plan is to till them this weekend and sow at a rate of 15kg grass/clover seed per acre.
Yearling cattle are currently grazing in two groups, 48 steers and 45 heifers.
They were weighed in mid-April, where steers averaged 410kg and heifers 380kg.
They will be weighed again in mid-June as a mid-season weight to see how they are performing.
These cattle look to be doing well, but I will do a faecal egg sample soon to ensure that there are no worms, etc, that might affect their performance.
- Denis Hickey runs a calf-to-beef operation outside Midelton, Co Cork. His Teagasc DairyBeef500 advisor is Gordon Peppard.
