Signpost: Grass growth up and lambs sold

Farmer Michael Forde, Parkhouse, Annagh West, Corrandulla, Co Galway, gets the straw bedding ready. Picture: Ray Ryan

It has been a busy few weeks on the farm. Thankfully, grass growth has been very good, especially on our new reseeded field. While it was a challenging summer on many farms, it is great to see the good growth currently. I can really see paddocks performing well.

I am doing regular grass walks to record grass covers on Pasturebase. I have found this to be an excellent tool, giving me the confidence to know when to take out paddocks as surplus bales while knowing there is still enough grass on the farm for grazing.

We have more acres to cut for silage, which will be the last of the silage 2026 campaign. After the silage is cut, we will spread the dung on this area to raise the phosphorous and potassium status. When silage is taken off ground it is quite severe in terms of potassium offtake.

We have sufficient fodder for both the sheep and cattle over the winter months while also allowing for a reserve. Silage quality should be good as we grazed prior to cutting and manured according to the soil results. We will know for sure how good the silage is when we test it.

Being part of the Teagasc Better Sheep Farm Programme, we record large amounts of data. Taking silage samples is an essential part of the programme and it is crucial that we make really good-quality silage. 

With the cost of silage-making increasing because of the cost of fertiliser, fuel, plastic and contractors, it is vital that excellent quality silage is preserved as it is one of the major costs on most farms.

The ewes are in good condition, which I put down to regular body condition scoring. We would have also given preferential treatment to any ewes that may have been behind in terms of body condition score target a few months ago. 

This has really improved the thinner sheep. We have given them better quality grass than the ewes in above optimal condition. The rams will be introduced to the flock in the first few of days in October. The rams and ewes have also received a mineral bolus and a dose.

We are still drafting lambs for slaughter, and we are happy with how they are doing. It is always obvious when the stronger lambs are taken out how well the other lambs can perform. The last lambs we sold achieved a price of €8.10 per kilo. We should have another batch of lambs ready again next week, all going well.

The cattle are also thriving and we are pleased with how they performed over the summer. Our plan with the cattle is to finish them out of the shed and hopefully these will be gone by the Christmas period. From talking to other farmers, there seems to be a good demand from the factories. Hopefully, this will remain, if not strengthen over the coming weeks. As they are good-quality continental cattle, they should also respond well to a concentrate finish in the shed.

It is always great to have help on the farm and my son Michael Junior loves helping with the sheep.  As we know, sheep can be quite demanding in relation to labour. Many hands make light work.