Tomas O’Toole, sheep farmer participant in the Teagasc Signpost Programme, looks at his plans for winter feeding and flock management prior to housing.
My farm advisor and I took silage samples for analysis. Silage makes up the main component of winter diets, and the quality of the silage can be affected by factors such as the cutting date, sward quality and weather at the time of ensiling.
It is important to find out what the nutritional value of the silage you are feeding is. One of the key areas I would look at when analysing silage would be the dry matter digestibility (DMD) %; this estimates the energy of the silage, as well as expected live weight gains/milk yields and aids in planning supplementation rates. The target would be to have >72 DMD %. Last year’s DMD % would be roughly around 70% DMD.
In total, I made 200 bales. The poorer quality silage will be fed to the cows (cows in good body condition score of >3), and I will feed the higher quality forage to the ewes in the months prior to lambing. Good quality, high DMD silage is essential for pregnant ewes, and the amount of concentrates I feed will be based on this information and litter size.
Grazing
This year I am also going to graze the lowland ewes out for longer. Normally I would house them in early December, this will save on straw use, reduce labour, less machinery costs whilst cutting back on lighting costs. I will be supplementing them with silage fed via a haybell feeder which protects forage in all weather conditions and minimises wastage due to trampling and fouling.
I also fed the cattle out for longer this year, grazing some of the rougher ground and offered 2kg per day of high-quality beef nuts. I am paying €340/tonne for meal so by keeping the cattle fed on meal and grass cost me approximately €1.48/day taking into account the meal cost & grass fertiliser cost -(2kg x 34 cent/kg = 68 cent) (grass -10kg x 8cent/kg = 80cent). If they were to be housed and fed on only silage, the cost per day would be €2.10 which takes into account the dry matter – (12kg dm x 17.5 cent/kg/dm). As this is costing me €31/bale to make including fertiliser and at 180kg DM/bale this costs me 17.5 cent/kg dry matter.
Flock management
During breeding, I used a harness on the rams which was changed every 13 days – starting with the colours yellow, then green, blue and red. This helps me to keep track of ewes that are mated and keeping track of repeats or any issues with the rams. Prior to putting the flock out for breeding, they would have got a fluke dose, mineral drench and also mineral bolus. They will also be given another fluke dose (by alternating the fluke product to prevent anthelmintic resistance) and mineral drench prior to housing. Fluke is an issue on the farm therefore it is something that I have to monitor regularly. The liver fluke forecast was published on 17th November which advises farmers about the predicted risk of disease caused by liver fluke infection for the following winter. The prediction is that infection will be most prevalent in the midlands, west and northern half of the country which is similar to other years. It is something that I will be monitoring.
Overall, the farming year has been mostly positive, with good prices for sheep and record prices reached for weanlings this year, along with generally good weather during the key times of the year namely spring and summer. I hope this positivity continues into the new year and beyond for Irish sheep and beef farmers.
Find out more about the Teagasc Signpost Programme here.
This article first appeared in the Farming Examiner as part of a Signpost Programme update and was adapted for use on Teagasc Daily.