Aonghusa Fahy November/December Update 2024
- FEC samples taken
- Feeding space in new slatted shed
- Lying space for cows & weanlings
FEC sampling & shed space
Breeding
Aonghusa’s attention is turning to managing his cows and heifers in the lead up to calving. He has already vaccinated the early calving heifers against rotavirus, coronavirus and e.coli while helps to prevent the calves developing scours after birth. The later calving cows will be vaccinated around 20th December to ensure that they have their vaccine received 3 to 12 weeks before calving. There is no issue with crypto on the farm so Aonghusa will not need to use the new vaccine available this year, and he also does not vaccinate against leptospirosis pre-breeding.
All cows and heifers are given a bolus containing copper, cobalt, iodine, manganese, selenium, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin D3 and vitamin E pre-calving. The minerals supplied are micro minerals, meaning that they can be stored in the body and do not need to be ingested every day. However other minerals are required before calving such as magnesium, phosphorus and sodium. These are macro minerals and must be ingested daily as they cannot be stored in the body. Therefore Aonghusa feeds bagged minerals to supply the macro minerals which he dusts at 120g/head/day along the silage for the cows and in calf heifers to eat. Figure 1 below shows the minerals and vitamins being provided from the product and it is an excellent spec in terms of what the cows require pre-calving. It costs approximately 28c/head/day.
Aonghusa has followed this mineral feeding regime for the last few years and it has resulted in strong calves at birth that stand and suck quickly after birth. As he is working full time off farm he does not want to lose time dealing with slow calves and if he has to defrost beistings and stomach tube them, it could take 2 hours.
Figure 1: Analysis of pre-calving mineral used on the farm when fed at 120g/head/day
Aonghusa recently noticed that the calving cameras are only working when he’s on the same network in the yard, rather than when he’s on a separate internet connection at the house so he will get that fixed before calving starts.
Animal Health
FEC samples have been taken from the weanlings and cows. The cows were also tested for liver and rumen fluke at a cost of €17.
The new slatted shed on Aonghusa’s farm was measured to indicate the available lying and feed space available for his stock. Both cows and weanlings are housed there over winter;
- The cows need 2.75m2 of lying space each and 0.45m of feeding space when getting silage ad-lib
- The weanlings need 1.75m2 of lying space each and 0.5m of feeding space when getting silage and ration
At 26.56m2 per bay this means that Aonghusa can hold a maximum of 9 cows per pen to have sufficient lying and feeding space. For the weanlings he has enough lying space for 15 weanlings but only enough feed space for 8 weanlings on one side of the shed. Fortunately he has the option to feed at the back of the shed too so that he can maximise the shed space without impacting on performance.
The recommended lying and feed space allowances are outlined below;
Figure 2: Recommended feed space allowance
Figure 3: Recommended lying space allowance
Performance
The spring 2024 bullocks (15) were weighed on 16th November. They averaged 325kg and gained 0.9 kg/head/day since 21st August.
The spring 2024 heifers (9) averaged 306kg on the same day and gained o.7 kg/head/day on average since 21st August.
Aonghusa sold 1 cow, vasectomised bull, 1 bullock and 2 heifers to the factory on 10th December. The cow was 1601.1 months of age, 392kg carcass weight (49% kill out) and graded O=4=. The vasectomised bull was 283kg carcass weight (51% kill out) and graded O+2+ at 33 months of age. The bullock was 342kg carcass weight (58% kill out) and graded R-3+ at 21.6 months of age. The 2 heifers averaged 341kg at 21.9 months and graded R-3+ on average.
Figure 4: Heifer #341 was 372kg and graded R=3+
Figure 5: Bullock #351 was 343kg carcass weight and graded R-3+
One cull cow and the stock bull were sold live on 3rd December. The stock bull weighed 885kg and made €2230 (€2.52/kg) and the cow weighed 625kg and made €1350 (€2.16/kg). The cow was almost 14 years old and Aonghusa estimates that he fed her €210 worth of ration. She was slow to put down fat cover so he chose to sell her live.
The Friesian bullocks will move to the farm in Tulla in the next week.