Weaning Performance Report

Kay’s calves are still suckling the cows and will remain so until January. All of the cows are in good body condition and early weaning of these cows may result in the cows putting on too much condition, which could in turn cause problems at calving. The cows and calves are being fed the lowest DMD silage quality on the farm which is 71.80% DMD. The cows also have access to grass also throughout the winter period.

The calves were weighed on the 28^th of August and from the weaning performance report the 200 day  weight for the calves is as follows:

Table 1: A summary of the weaning performance report from 2022 to 2025

The report highlights the performance of the male and female calves separately. The males weighed 302kg at 200 days and the females weighed 265kg resulting in an average daily gain of 1.31kg and 1.14kg respectively. The target for weanlings is 300kg for males and 250kg for females. Kay is exceeding both of these targets. From the table above it can be seen that the weaning performance has been improving each year since 2022, this has been done through:

• Improved genetics
• Grassland improvement – reseeding and incorporating multi species swards and clover
• Operating a good herd health plan
• Grassland management – Walking the farm weekly and managing grass using the Pasturebase grass measuring tool
• Calving the cows compactly at grass
• Maintaining and improving the milk traits of the herd.

Table 2. Some of the 2025 born calves sires include:

AI Code	Sire name	Terminal index €	Carcass weight kg	Age at finish days
AA4631	Gabriel Pat 1949	106	11.2	-22.65
AA7452	Te Mania Nebo N424	85	6.2	–15.52
ZHF	HF Rebel 53Y	113	13.2	-18.51

Photographed below is calf 278. Calf 278 is sire by AA7452 (Te Mania Nebo N424 and was born on the 10^th March 2025. 278 weighed 318 kg on the 28^th of august and has gained 1.63kg since birth. Calf 278 is by a cow 191, with a replacement index of €174.

Picture 1: Calf tag 278 pictured in November

Picture 2: Calf tag 278 pictured 25th September

Picture 3: Calf tag 278 pictured 21st August

Top Males & Females

Silage analysis report

Table 5: Silage analysis for the grass and red clover made in 2025

The silage cut in 2025 ranged in dry matter digestibility from 61.30% to 75.90% for a multi species sward silage. All of the samples were over 71% DMD silage bar one. The 63.90% DMD silage will be fed to suckler cows in good body condition in December and as cows get closer to calving higher quality silage will be introduced to the diet. The FIM intake value can be used as an indication as to the potential intake of a silage to a dry suckler cow. To do this divide the FIM intake in this case 103.45 for the 63.90%DMD Silage by a constant factor of 8.8  (103.45/8.8)= 11.7kg dry matter intake. This potential intake value can be multiplied by the ufl value  (in this case 0.85) to determine the cows potential energy intake. Typically dry cows will consume about 11kg of dry matter in late pregnancy meaning the cow will have an energy intake of 11kg dmi x 0.85ufl = 9.35ufl total energy intake. A cow will normally require 8.1 ufls in late pregnancy.

The higher quality silage will be fed to weanlings in order to maximise growth rates over the winte. The weanlings will also have access to redstart during this period. This year the cattle were finished at 18.5 months of age from grass/multi species/ clover swards. As the cows get closer to calving better quality silage will be fed in order to maximise colostrum production and quality. Dry cow minerals will be fed by feeding a high quality pre calver lick block which is high in magnesium. The magnesium is required by the dry cow in order to help with the oxidation of calcium from the bones making it more available to the cow at calving. This system has worked well in the past without any cases of retained placentas, slow calvers or milk fever etc.

Grassland

A closing of 890kg was recorded on the 12^th of November. Paddocks closed will not be grazed agin until the spring of next year. Kay avoids the temptation to graze out paddocks at the back end as spring grass is worth more than autumn grass. This is especially true in an organic system. Paddocks that have a high content of clover are grazed out well late in the final rotation in order to avoid heavy covers on these paddocks over the winter. Carrying heavy covers over the winter on such paddocks will significantly reduce the clover content of these paddocks in the following gazing season. Overall Kay is very happy with the year and even the farm suffered from restricted growth rates due to low rainfall levels in the spring , the high growth rates in the autumn compensated for this. The farm grew 11.2tonnes of dry matter per ha just slightly back on 2024. Kay has recorded 33 measures during the grazing season and the time taken to walk these paddocks and assess them for their covers and quality is the best spent time on any livestock farm. Underperforming paddocks can be assessed and a decision on whether to reseed them or not can be made. The farm has been soil sampled recently and the results are just back so they will be assessed and compared against previous test reports to see what improvements can be made in 2026. For 2026 the plan is to increase the suckler cow herd further. The sheep enterprise will be scaled back and a small number will be retained mainly for weed control.

Table 6: Farm Summary Report for 2025 from Pasturebase